The International Commission of Jurists, Action for Imprisoned An Dan Dai Dao Buddhist Practitioners, April 2020

Featured Image: Phan Van Thu and his followers in the closed trial in 2013. Source.

Take action with the International Commission of Jurists by sharing their open letter on healthcare access for detained Vietnamese religious activists. The ICJ released the open letter– addressed to Vietnam’s Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and acting Minister of Health, Minister of Public Security, and Minister of Justice– calling on them to uphold commitments under international law to protect the rights of the detainees. The letter requests that the government take action to provide adequate healthcare to the 21 imprisoned members of the An Dan Dai Dao Buddhist sect during the COVID-19 outbreak and to release prisoners who are most at risk of contracting the disease.

They note that at least eight of the ADDD members have “serious” existing health conditions. The ICJ states that, “The failure to provide necessary treatment to the detainees leave them vulnerable to deterioration of serious pre-existing medical conditions – in violation of the State’s obligations to protect their rights to health, humane treatment, dignity, life and freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.” Read the full letter, here.

The ADDD members were arrested in February 2012 under Article 258 and tried under Article 79 of the 1999 Penal Code by Phú Yên People’s Court in January 2013, in what is called the “Council for the Laws and Public Affairs of Bia Son” affair. ADDD leader Phan Van Thu is serving life in prison, and member Doan Dinh Nam died in prison from kidney failure in October 2019 after the authorities denied his family’s petition to suspend his sentence.