Vietnam Free Expression Newsletter No.9/2019 – Week of February 25-March 3

Repression and abuse behind Vietnam’s peace facade: “As the international spectacle of US-North Korea peace talks takes place in the Vietnamese capital, the international media represented by as many as 3,000 or so visiting journalists has largely ignored Vietnam’s persecuted pro-democracy movement. Dispatches from the summit have mainly referred to Vietnam as either an economic miracle that North Korea could one day potentially replicate, or as a novelty for the many reporters who have never previously visited the country. But the ruling Communist Party’s ironclad grip and power and abysmal human rights record is not easily overlooked. Vietnam’s media is almost entirely state-dominated, while independent bloggers who criticize the regime are routinely arrested or threatened. In recent years, civil society organizations that had begun to build nationwide chapters have since been demolished by the state.”

In Little Saigon, the Trump-Kim summit spurs a call for human rights in Vietnam: “Demonstrators — totaling more than 400 by dinnertime — cited Nguyen’s case and pleaded for the release of hundreds of political prisoners suffering behind bars in their country. ‘Innocent people should not be jailed. We call on Vietnam to release all the prisoners of conscience who are punished just because they express their beliefs,’ said Diep Bui, a nanny from San Jose, wearing a tunic bearing the face of Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, a blogger and democracy activist who has spent more than 10 birthdays behind bars.”

After Unpredictable Trump Meeting, Kim Returns to Scripted Form in Vietnam: “Calling Vietnam’s human rights record ‘deplorable,’ the joint chairmen of the Congressional Caucus on Vietnam wrote a letter to Mr. Trump last month, urging him to raise with Vietnam’s leaders the country’s restrictive new cybersecurity law and the detention of Americans. There was no indication that Mr. Trump had raised human rights with the Vietnamese leadership when they met on Wednesday — or with Mr. Kim. Instead, he complimented his hosts on the nation’s economic transformation.”

All is well, according to Vietnam’s media: “In Vietnam, where independent media outlets are routinely closed or journalists hounded by authorities, state-run newspapers dominate the media landscape, allowing the Communist Party to carefully manage what locals read about current affairs. One Vietnamese journalist, who asked not to be named and who writes for a state-run newspaper, said he had been instructed to report only on positive comments made by US or North Korean officials about Vietnam, and to report on how much foreign journalists enjoyed their visit.”

COMING UP

The People’s court of Binh Thuy Ward, Can Tho Province will hold Le Minh The’s first instance trial on March 6, 2019. He will be prosecuted under the Article 331 of the 2015 Penal Code for “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State, lawful rights and interests of organizations and/or citizens.” Political prisoner Huynh Truong Ca, who was sentenced to five years and six months in prison last year, has been summoned as a witness in the trial. Both The and Ca are members of the constitutional rights group Hien Phap. Le Minh The has been vocal on Facebook about public protest, the environment, and sovereignty.

TAKE ACTION

Would you like to help Vietnamese political prisoners and activists arrested and missing in recent weeks? Donate to the Conscience Fund, managed by Mr. Nguyen Quang A and other activists inside Vietnam. The fund was established in May 2017 with the commitment that “no families will be abandoned when their loved ones are being imprisoned because of their struggle for human rights in Vietnam.”

© 2019 The 88 Project