On 21 January 2017 human rights defender Ms Tran Thi Nga was arrested in Ha Nam province on charges of anti-state propaganda. Two days earlier, fellow human rights defender Mr Nguyen Van Oai was arrested in Nghe An province on charges of "resisting officials on duty' and violating his probation. Tran Thi Nga is a member of Vietnamese Women For Human Rights, a group that includes overseas Vietnamese wishing to lend support, training, and encouragement to those who stand up to defend human rights in Vietnam. She has also assisted those whose land has been confiscated by local authorities and has demonstrated in support of democratic reform. She has been targeted a number of times because of her human rights work and in 2015 she was beaten by policemen for celebrating the release of another human rights defender from jail. Nguyen Van Oai is a Christian activist and citizen journalist who was sentenced to four years' imprisonment in 2013 for "attempting to overthrow the government'. He is a co-founder of the Association of Catholic Former Prisoners of Conscience. Following his release in 2015, he was placed on administrative probation for four years. On 21 January Tran Thi Nga and her husband, Phan Van Phong, were arrested at their home in Phu Ly city, Ha Nam province. Tran Thi Nga was charged under Article 88 of the Vietnamese penal code for "using the internet to spread some propaganda videos and writings that are against the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam." In the days prior to her arrest, Tran Thi Nga had complained of increasing intimidation and harassment against her by the police, including their surrounding of her home and physically blocking her from leaving. Police also prevented a neighbour from taking the couple's two young sons to the city to buy them food. At around 10pm on 19 January Nguyen Van Oai was intercepted and detained by a group of unidentified men, later identified as police officers, as he returned from a day's fishing near Hoang Mai commune, Nghe An province. He was charged with resisting on-duty state officials after being accused of breaking the terms of his probation by leaving his locality without first informing the local authorities. It is unclear where he is currently being detained. Front Line Defenders is gravely concerned at the arrests of Tran Thi Nga and Nguyen Van Oai which it believes are solely motivated by their legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights in Vietnam. UPDATE: On 12 May 2017, Tran Thi Nga, the WHRD held in detention for online activism, is in poor health and has been refused visits from her family, according to her lawyer, who met with her on 11 May 2017 for the first time since she was arrested nearly four months ago. UPDATE: On 16 June 2017, Tran Thi Nga was allowed to meet with her lawyer, Ha Huy Son, in Ha Nam Police Detention Centre in Vietnam's northern province. According to her lawyer, her health is deteriorating and she has been denied medical treatment for her mucosal injury. UPDATE: On 16 July 2017, Vietnam's authorities will hold an open trial for human rights activist Tran Thi Nga on allegation of "conducting anti-state propaganda" under Article 88 of the country's 1999 Penal Code on July 25-26 and she will face imprisonment of up to 20 years in jail if is convicted. UPDATE: On 25 July 2017, the People's Court in Vietnam's northern province of Ha Nam sentenced human rights defender Tran Thi Nga to nine years in prison and additional five years under house arrest on charge of "conducting anti-state propaganda" under Article 88 of the country's 1999 Penal Code. UPDATE: Local authorities notified Nguyen Van Oai's defense lawyer, Ha Huy Son, of the trial set for August 21 in Nghe An province (central Vietnam). Update 18 September 2017 On September 18, the People's Court in Hoang Mai town, Vietnam's central province of Nghe An sentenced human rights defender and former prisoner of conscience Nguyen Van Oai to five years in prison as part of the communist government's intensified crackdown on local political dissidents, rights advocates, social activists and online bloggers. The court found Mr. Oai guilty of "Resisting persons in the performance of their official duties" under Article 257 and "Failing to execute judgments" under Article 304 of the country's 1999 Penal Code. The judge gave him three years in prison for the first charge and two years for the second charge, said his lawyer Ha Huy Son who stood that his client is innocent. In addition, the court said he has to serve four more years in house arrest, considering the additional probation period of the previous sentence had not been done. Any relatives of Oai were allowed to enter the courtroom while foreign diplomatic corps were rejected to send their representatives to observers the open trial. Mr. Oai, a former prisoner of conscience, was arrested on January 19 when he was fishing near his private house in Hoang Mai town. On the day of the trial, authorities in Nghe An deployed hundreds of police and militia to ensure maximum security in Vinh city where the trial was held. All roads leading to the court areas were blocked for civilians. One day prior to the trial, Nghe An sent police to the national road connecting Hoang Mai town and Vinh to stop cars transferring Oai's relatives and friends in a bid to prevent them from gathering to the city. Despite harassments from police, tens of Oai's relatives and supporters managed to come to near the court areas and they were stopped by security forces. Police said only Oai's mother and wife can go inside the two women insisted to go together with others. Police rejected so the two women stayed outside of the courtroom. Police requested people to go away from the court areas and pushed them in a street corner. They arrested several activists, including Le Sy Binh and Ho Huy Luat and released them afternoon, beat others including Oai's mother. They also robbed cell phones of some people. Police also used Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs) to deal with people who held banners calling for immediate and unconditional release of Oai. The devices worked extensively so one of them burned later, observers said. Oai, who was imprisoned for four years between 2011 and 2015, got support from domestic and international community after his detention in January. After his arrest, the EU, the U.S. and other countries and international human rights have condemned Vietnam's move, urging the communist government to release him immediately and unconditionally. The arrest and conviction of Oai is part of Vietnam's intensifying crackdown on local activists. In late June, Vietnam sentenced prominent human rights advocate Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh to ten years in prison. The communist government will try social activist Tran Thi Nga on July 25 and it is likely to receive heavy sentence too as the two were charged with the same allegation "conducting anti-state propaganda" under Article 88 of the Penal Code. In July-September, Vietnam arrested Pham Van Troi, Nguyen Trung Ton, Truong Minh Duc and Nguyen Bac Truyen, Nguyen Trung Truc, Nguyen Van Tuc, Le Dinh Luong and charged them with subversion under Article 79 of the Penal Code. They are facing life imprisonment and even death sentences if are convicted. Vietnam also added the same charge to prominent human rights attorney Nguyen Van Dai and his assistance Le Thu Ha who were arrested on December 16, 2015 and charged with "conducting anti-state propaganda" under Article 88 of the Penal Code. As many as 15 activists have been detained and tried since the beginning of 2017. Vietnam is imprisoning over 100 activists, according to Human Rights Watch while Amnesty International says the Southeast Asian nation is holding around 90 prisoners of conscience. Hanoi always denies holding any political prisoners, saying it keeps in prison only law violators UPDATE: On 21 March 2018, human rights defender Tran Thi Nga's partner was informed that the human rights defender was transferred to a remote prison over 1,000 kilometers from where she had been previously incarcerated. Tran Thi Nga was supposedly being held in Ha Nam province when her partner was informed that she would be transferred to Dak Trung prison. However, he found out during a visit to Dak Trung prison that the human rights defender had been transferred to Gia Long province, which is over 1,000 km (620 miles) from Ha Nam province. He discovered that she had been transferred a month previously but was not permitted to visit her. Tran Thi Nga's supporters have previously expressed concerns for the defender's health in detention, although authorities have recently assured Tranh Thi Nga's partner that she is in good health. This is the second time in two weeks that a woman human rights defender has been transferred to a remote prison where visits from family members would prove to be difficult, with potential negative consequences for the defenders' physical and emotion wellbeing. (https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/tran-thi-nga-arrested)