Exactly one month before European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is due to touch down in Hanoi for climate talks, the Hanoi People’s Court sentenced energy policy think tank director Ngo Thi To Nhien to prison, three sources told Project88. Two of these sources said that Nhien was sentenced to 42 months prison time. The trial, which was closed to outside observers, took place on June 27, 2024. Nhien’s conviction has not been made public.

Nhien was the Executive Director of the Vietnam Initiative for Energy Transition Social Enterprise (VIETSE), the only independent energy think tank operating in the country. According to Nhien, VIETSE’s mission was ‘to accelerate the energy transition of Vietnam towards a carbon-neutral society’. The organization served as a bridge between the Vietnamese government and foreign governments and corporations that are keen to support, and profit from, reform of the country’s energy sector. VIETSE closed shortly after Nhien was arrested. Nhien is the sixth climate activist imprisoned by the Vietnamese government since 2021. Her conviction follows Project88’s revelation of Directive 24, a secret order issued in July, 2023 by Vietnam’s leaders that frames policy activism, foreign funding, and reformers as threats to national security.

‘Hanoi recently adopted a policy (Directive 24) of violating human rights. It has also systematically violated the terms of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement and the EU-led Just Energy Transition Partnership by imprisoning civil society leaders and government reformers involved in monitoring these agreements. Borrell should prioritize securing the release of these political prisoners and demanding the immediate repeal of Directive 24, not wooing Vietnam to join an anti-China alliance, during his trip to Vietnam.’