Poet Nguyen Thi Phuong, pen name Chieu Anh, reported to Project88 that she has twice been “invited” by Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) police to answer questions about her active support for political prisoners. At the first session on June 21, 2023, Phuong was asked about her middleman role of receiving money and then forwarding it to the families of prisoners. They also questioned her about a motorcycle she donated to the wife of political prisoner Huynh Truong Ca. Phuong told Project88 the police tried to frame her action as receiving funds sent from abroad as “support for terrorism.”

At the second meeting on October 5, she was once again grilled regarding what the police called “terrorism support funds.” Additionally, they asked about her sharing articles by RFA and former political prisoner Pham Thanh Nghien, who emigrated to the United States earlier this year. The police wanted Chieu Anh to sign a note promising not to repost content that has not been cleared by state censors, but she refused. Phuong was fined 7.5M dong ($300) for unspecified “violations of the cybersecurity law,” but she refused to pay, saying she did not violate any regulations. Watch our short interview with Chieu Anh from 2019 here.