Siu Wiu

Siu Wiu is an ethnic minority (Ba Na) Christian activist from the Central Highlands and one of the leaders of a protest in Gia Lai province in April 2008 calling for religious freedom and release of Montagnard prisoners of conscience. According to his indictment, under the direction of Montagnard exiles abroad, Siu Wiu incited people to prepare banners with “reactionary anti-government content”. In January 2009, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison under Article 89 of the 1999 Penal Code for disrupting security. While imprisoned at Nam Hà Prison he spent six months in solitary confinement before being transferred to Phú Sơn 4 prison in Thái Nguyên province, even farther away from his family in Gia Lai. During pre-trial detention, police tortured him for more than two months during interrogation sessions. Among the torture tactics they employed was to hang him upside down and beat him with wooden batons.

April 2018:

It is believed that Siu Wiu was released from prison in April 2018, though this is not completely confirmed. Facebook accounts (last active June and July 2018) showed that he was in Thailand. In 2018, some articles from state media said that 'after being imprisoned for 10 years, Siu Wiu has not changed and continued his activism" and also said that his family now is in Thailand.