Human Rights Watch (HRW) is calling on Vietnamese authorities to investigate allegations of the beating and shackling of prisoner of conscience Trinh Ba Tu.

HRW issued a media release on Thursday urging authorities to open an investigation into the alleged actions of prison guards at Prison No. 6, at Thanh Chuong township in Nghe An province.

The statement by the New York-based human rights organization was released two days after Tu’s father, Trinh Ba Khiem, said his son had been punished for filing a complaint against the prison.

“There needs to be an urgent, transparent, and impartial investigation of Trinh Ba Tu’s serious accusations that prison guards shackled and beat him,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director of HRW's Asia division.

“That kind of treatment is outrageous and unacceptable, and the perpetrators should be held accountable for maltreating prisoners.”

Robertson said dissidents imprisoned in Vietnam are regularly subjected to harassment and inhumane treatment. He said he saw little possibility of Vietnamese authorities investigating these allegations.

“Foreign diplomats and UN officials should request that Vietnamese authorities allow them to visit Trinh Ba Tu and conduct interviews with him to get to the bottom of this matter,” said HRW in its statement.

Tu’s sister-in-law, Do Thi Thu, sent a petition to Vietnam's President, the Chairman of the National Assembly, the Minister of Public Security, the Supreme People's Procuracy and the People's Procuracy of Nghe An province.

She asked them to explain to Tu’s family why her brother-in-law was beaten, tortured and shackled.

“When I heard that Tu was beaten and was on a hunger strike, my family was very worried about him,” said Thu, who is married to another prisoner of conscience, Trinh Ba Phuong.

“My family does not know why he was beaten and shackled. My family doesn't know if he is still being beaten or on a hunger strike."

This is the second time Tu has been beaten by Vietnamese police in prison. When arrested in mid-June 2020, his beating by police in Hoa Binh province caused kidney damage.

According to former prisoner of conscience Nguyen Van Hai (aka blogger Dieu Cay), who was imprisoned for many years in many prisons, Prison No. 6 is the most draconian in Vietnam.

In early August, citizen journalist Do Cong Duong died while serving an eight-year prison sentence there, despite being healthy when he was arrested.

Mr. Trinh Ba Tu, a famous land rights activist, who is on hunger strike at Detention Center No. 6 in Thanh Chuong district, Nghe An province, was beaten by prison guards and shackled for many days in solitary confinement.

Mr. Tu provided this information to his father, Mr. Trinh Ba Khiem during a family visit on September 20, 2022. Mr. Khiem told RFA about the visit as follows:

“A visit often lasts an hour. At minute 40th, my son said 'I was beaten, Dad'… and then the prison guards (nearby) rushed in, made a fuss and pushed my son out of the visitors' room. My son screamed but it was so loudly there that I couldn't hear [what he said]"

Before being able to meet his son through a glass partition, Mr. Khiem was informed by a prison staff that "Tu is being disciplined for writing a slanderous petition/denunciation letter. Because of the discipline, [your] family can only visit him once every two months. As you are seeing Tu now for this month, you won't be able to see him again in October."

Mr. Khiem was also warned: "[You are allowed] to talk only about family issues, not anything else. If you violate [this rule], the meeting will be stopped immediately and a minute [about the violation] will be made."

RFA's reporter has tried to contact Detention Center No. 6 to verify the information by making phone calls to its public telephone number. However the calls rang unanswered.

Mr. Trinh Ba Tu, born in 1989, is currently serving an eight-year jail term at Detention Center No. 6 on the charge of "spreading anti-State materials."

Mr. Tu and his mother, Mrs. Can Thi Theu, were both arrested in mid-2020 after speaking up strongly on social media about the raid of 3,000 mobile police officers who had attacked Dong Tam commune at dawn of January 9, 2020, killing Mr. Le Dinh Kinh, 84, Dong Tam spiritual leader. Three police officers also died in the incident.

Putting all the information together, Mr. Trinh Ba Khiem told RFA the incident which had happened to his son from the beginning of September as follows:

“According to my summary, Tu had written a denunciation letter and on September 6 was called to a room for a meeting for four to six hours. And he was beaten there.

Tu could not tell me he had been beaten by how many people and for how long.

Then my son was thrown into a discipline room, shackled for 10 days where he had to do everything from sleeping to going to the toilet in the same place."

However, he did not know what his son's denunciation letter was about and the detention center did not provide him with related information either.

After the 10 days, Mr. Tu was released from the shackles. At first, he was detained in the area for people charged with security offences, then transferred to the areas for those charged with criminal offences.

Right after being beaten by the prison guards, Mr. Trinh Ba Tu started to go on a hunger strike. His father's visit marked his 14th day of hunger strike and to date, there is no information whether he has stopped the strike or not.

According to Mr. Khiem, his son looked very thin and pale. However, the father did not see any injuries or bruises on his son's body.

Mr. Khiem, who was imprisoned for fighting against the coercion of his family's land in Duong Noi commune, said Vietnamese security officers "know how to beat [suspects/prisoners] without leaving a trace."

According to Mr. Khiem, after telling his father that he had been beaten, Mr. Tu was subdued and taken away by prison guards. Then prison staff immediately created a minute, saying that "Mr Tu falsely accused the prison officers of beating him". Mr. Khiem also said that he had been asked to sign the minute but he refused to do so because of lacking information about the incident.

Mr. Khiem said his family would do everything they could to demand the Vietnamese authorities to investigate the torture against his son in prison and also request the Ministry of Public Security to respond to Mr. Trinh Ba Tu's denunciation.