Vietnam Free Expression Newsletter No. 45/2018 – Week of November 12-18

Source: Facebook Ho Dan Day So Nha Le Duong De La Thanh
On November 15, plainclothes police attacked protesters in Hanoi and arrested them while they were demonstrating against illegal land confiscation. The police forced them in a car and beat them. One victim had to be hospitalized. The group was protesting a project that would evict them from their townhouses to build a parking lot.

Police also detained at least ten people in Da Nang this week as a force of 500 came to evict them from their homes to continue with a contested development project. The ten had protested with their community against the land confiscation, saying they were not adequately compensated for the land they use to live and grow rice on. The detentions are the latest in a long string of confrontations between residents and authorities over the eco-tourism project, which began in 2008. The affected community is largely Catholic.

Over eighty scholars and researchers specializing in Vietnam sent a letter calling on the Vietnamese government to reassess the case of publisher Chu Hao, who was punished for publishing translated books with Western political content that were deemed to be damaging to the Communist Party. Several prominent members left the Communist Party after Chu Hao, director and editor-in-chief of Tri Thuc (Knowledge) Publishing House, was disciplined by the Party in October.

The European Parliament filed a motion for a resolution on the situation in Vietnam, specifically with regards to political prisoners. Our database was cited and used for up-to-date information about the numbers of prisoners. The resolution calls for EU Member States to press Vietnam further to improve its human rights situation ahead of Vietnam’s Universal Periodic Review in January 2019 and calls human rights a “cornerstone of the bilateral relations between Vietnam and the Union, notably in view of the ratification of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and in view of the EU-Vietnam Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA).”

On November 13, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (a.k.a Me Nam or Mother Mushroom) started her campaign for Vietnamese human rights in Washington D.C. She particularly highlighted the case of Tran Thi Nga, who, like Quynh was, is a female political prisoner who has young children. She presented information about the Formosa environmental disaster and the heavy sentences authorities imposed against activists involved in protesting it. Quynh also gave thanks to those agencies and people who assisted in her early release from prison in October. During her time in D.C., she met with Voice of America, the Editorial Board of the Washington Post, EU representatives, the US State Department, Radio Free Asia, the office of Senator Marco Rubio, and the Committee to Protect Journalists. She also spoke out about Vietnam’s tactic of forcing political prisoners into exile in exchange for early release from prison.

Digital dictatorship in Vietnam seeks to silence dissidents: “Vietnamese civil society groups are concerned Facebook has begun to block or shut down accounts requested by the authorities. This move could silence many dissidents currently using the platform to share independent news and opinions.’I just feel worried for other people. I’m so familiar with violent suppression and political repression,’ [Pham Doan] Trang said. ‘But for other people, it’s a real danger because now they can be arrested and given lengthy prison terms for a post.’ Trang is extremely worried about the deteriorating human rights situation in Vietnam. But she’s optimistic about the peaceful, non-violent, methods used by her compatriots to express their dissatisfaction with the regime in Hanoi.”

Vietnamese singer Mai Khoi, voice of dissent: “Despite the crackdowns on political protests, including the protest over 99-year special economic zones in June and citizens now being ‘a little bit scared,’ Mai said political protests would continue, but in ‘small groups,’ although adding that organizing training courses in human rights or on the environment are ‘most dangerous’ and ‘under censor.’ She added that protests were increasingly being organized by word-of-mouth, and not on Facebook given the deletion of fake names used by some activists in Vietnam. As a proud Vietnamese, it is clear Mai Khoi fears for the future of Vietnam, as an increasingly authoritarian model of governance takes hold in Hanoi with echoes of that other Communist regime across the border.”

Vietnamese Blogger Mother Mushroom Tells Activists ‘You Are Not Alone’: VOA: Do you have anything else to share with other blogger-activists? Quynh: “We are not alone, because freedom is something that all of us, each and everyone of us, aspires to. Because of that common factor, because we all dream of the same dream, we are not alone and so if you can just overcome the personal fear of yours, you will find many, many other supporters out there. The minute that you speak out, thousands of other voices will join you. That is what we will draw our strength and force from.”

Vietnam defends itself on torture: “Lt-Gen Vuong maintained that steps had been taken to improve the legal framework and to punish those found responsible for torture and other abuses of those in police custody. Critics say that despite some fluctuations the number of suspects who die after interrogation has remained more or less consistent, and that the police continue to attribute most such deaths to suicide. Meanwhile, some fifty bloggers and other political campaigners have been imprisoned this year, with many complaining of poor treatment and sometimes physical assault after their detention. Human rights groups say that the police regularly employ plainclothes proxies to carry out violent attacks on government critics, with some activities sustaining severe injuries as a result.”