Uwazi

Below is a letter from Tran Phuong Thao, wife of imprisoned climate leader Dang Dinh Bach. In it, she alleges Prison No. 6 in Nghe An province deliberately withheld a package of food from Bach, leaving him to have essentially no access to food for two weeks. This serious allegation should be thoroughly investigated by the international community.

Bach, who is serving five years in prison on spurious charges of tax evasion, has been subjected to harsh prison conditions and has undertaken numerous hunger strikes in protest. His family has also faced constant harassment from the Vietnamese authorities, even threatening the confiscation of their home.

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Hanoi, 13.03.2024 ~

Dear friends, colleagues and international organizations

I came home yesterday (March 12) at 9PM after visiting my husband Đặng Đình Bách in Prison No. 6, Nghe An province. I left home (in Hanoi) at 9PM the day before (March 11), which means twenty three hours on the road to see and talk to Bách through a glass pane for one hour, and to bring him the 5kg of dried vegetarian food allowed by the Vietnamese authorities, vital for his survival.

This letter is going to be short, because there is no amelioration to Bách’s detention situation to report. It has gotten even worse, so bad that I have been feeling suffocated from anxiety for Bách’s health and safety, as the prison seemed to increase their policy of deprivation of food by not handing over the 6kg of food I sent Bách per post on Feb 28.

This food parcel was the only nutrition source Bách would get for the last 2 weeks, as he depends entirely on his family’s supplies to eat vegetarian and safe food. In his last phone call on Feb. 2, Bach had already informed me that he was running out of food.

VN Post recorded that parcel 475790 (sent by me on Feb 28) was delivered on March 4 at 9:25:33 to a prison warden named San. But the parcel never reached Bách, and my husband was left without food for the last 2 weeks.

“Every two or three days, the canteen sold me something,” Bách said, “and my teeth are getting loose.”

Bách would like to thank —

–Ms. Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Mr. Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.; Mr. David Boyd, Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment; Mr. Marcos A. Orellana, Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes; Ms. Priya Gopalan (Chair-Rapporteur), Mr. Matthew Gillett (Vice-Chair on Communications), Ms. Ganna Yudkivska (Vice-Chair on Follow-Up), Ms. Miriam Estrada-Castillo, and Mr. Mumba Malila – Working Group on arbitrary detention,

for urging the Government of Viet Nam to stop targeting, convicting, and mistreating him

  –Chairman Cardin for mentioning him and calling for his release in the Truth to Power series of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee SFRC.

As last week Vietnam and Vanuatu sought advice from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on national climate change obligations, Bách puts his trust in the wisdom and farsightedness of his friends and colleagues to monitor Vietnam’s national commitment on climate change issue.

Bách would like to wish you all endurance, peace of mind, and harmony.

Yours faithfully,

Tran Phuong Thao (Mrs)

Activist Trinh Dinh Hoa reported to Project88 that he was abducted on Jan. 30 and interrogated for hours by Hanoi police. Three days earlier, while on his delivery route near the Ministry of Public Security, Hoa saw a large group of land rights protesters and stopped to take some photos, which he later posted on social media. On the day he was abducted, he got a delivery order to an address next to the police station of Buoi Ward. As soon as he got there, he was allegedly forced by a group of non-uniformed police into the station for questioning. Hoa was kept there from 11:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. The police focused their questioning on three videos he had posted about police abuse in 2016, the BOT protests in 2018, and a public gathering near Ho Chi Minh’s tomb in 2021. Before releasing Hoa, they asked him to sign an affidavit admitting that the Facebook account “Hoa DT” belonged to him, which he refused to do.

Trinh Dinh Hoa became an activist in 2015 when he participated in a memorial for soldiers killed by the Chinese Navy at Johnson Reef in 1988. In 2016, he joined protests for protection of trees in Hanoi and later against the Formosa environmental disaster. Then in 2018, he became actively involved in the nationwide protests against the proposed Cybersecurity Law. During those years, Hoa also attended–or tried to attend–the trials of other activists. In 2017, he was beaten by police and had his ID card and phone confiscated outside the courthouse where Tran Thi Nga was sentenced to eight years in prison for disseminating “anti-state propaganda.” During the Dong Tam trials in 2019, his home was monitored by police for an entire week. Hoa also participated in the translating of two books – one about the Formosa incident and the other about anti-democratic elections in Vietnam. Since 2019, however, Hoa has remained low-key and works as a deliveryman for a restaurant in Hanoi.

The authorities of Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City, on the morning of Dec. 7, sent a large number of police and security forces to surround and build barricades made of metal sheets around the Loc Hung Garden area, forcibly evicting the remaining residents of the area from their makeshift homes, according to representatives of the evicted households. As of this writing, the dispute between the residents of Loc Hung Garden and Tan Binh District authorities has not been resolved.

Photos shared by Loc Hung residents showed that many police and plainclothes security forces were deployed to block all roads leading to the disputed area. Many former residents of Loc Hung said on social media that there was a heavy presence of police officers around their homes, preventing them from going outside.

Cao Ha Truc, one of the Loc Hung residents who has not received the compensation, said police and security forces surrounded his residence on the morning of Dec. 7.

"Today, beginning at 6 a.m., [the Tan Binh authorities] sent around 400 police officers and security forces to surround Loc Hung Garden. Then, they blocked the doors of the former residents of Loc Hung and did not allow them to enter or leave. They sent excavators and trucks carrying iron frames and corrugated iron sheets [to the disputed Loc Hung Garden]. Then, the excavators started to dig and plant corrugated iron pillars to barricade Loc Hung Garden," Truc told RFA on Dec. 7.

In January 2019, local authorities sent bulldozers to demolish the homes of Loc Hung Garden residents, making hundreds of residents of this settlement homeless overnight. In addition to flattening more than 500 homes in the area, Ho Chi Minh City authorities also destroyed their crops and gardens, claiming these structures had been built illegally.

The evicted residents had to relocate to other places or establish makeshift dwellings, and the land has since remained unused. Many of the Loc Hung residents are Catholics, political dissidents, and veterans of the former Army of the Republic of Vietnam. For years, they have sought legal assistance from lawyers and sent numerous petitions to the central government, but the case has not yet been resolved.

Last November, the Tan Binh authorities introduced a plan to raise compensation for the evicted Loc Hung Garden households to solve the years-long dispute. The authorities also announced that three schools would be built on the property once the case is settled. However, many Loc Hung residents who lost their homes in the area rejected the compensation offered by the authorities, saying that they are much lower than the market price.

Prison authorities of Prison No. 6, Nghe An Province, reportedly cut short the visit of prisoner of conscience Dang Dinh Bach's visitation with his wife, Tran Phuong Thao, on Nov. 28 after Bach told her that the prison administration had not resolved his complaint that his cellmates had assaulted him.

According to Thao, their conversation was interrupted when she came to visit him on Nov. 15. Bach told her that he had previously sent two complaint letters, on Aug. 26 and Sept. 16, respectively, to the People's Procuracy of Nghe An to report the assaults he endured in prison, but the incidents had not been resolved. Although Bach had not finished speaking, the phone was disconnected, and three supervisory officers asked them to stop the visit immediately.

Thao said that as prison officials dragged her husband out of the visiting room, he shouted that an inmate named Nguyen Doan Anh had allegedly kicked him in the back of his head, resulting in a bruise. Previously, Bach told his wife that a group of inmates at Prison No. 6 also stormed into the living quarters of political prisoners, threatening to take their lives. However, the prison administration denied his allegations.

Dang Dinh Bach has rejected food rations from the prison since Sept. 4 and only used food sent by his family. Bach also had to soak dried food for a long time before he could eat it because the prison did not provide him with boiling water. The prison guards also confiscated Bach’s items, such as his reading lamp, watch, essential oils to treat his asthma, razor, and a diary. The family is also not allowed to send him some items, even though they are not prohibited.

On Nov. 12, Hoang Duc Binh’s mother and younger brother visited him at An Diem Prison. By law the meeting was supposed to last one hour, but it was abruptly cut off after 35 minutes by a Lt Lê Văn Hiếu. When the family protested, Hieu told them the reason was because they were overloaded with visit requests. The prison guards also told the family Binh was not allowed to receive any rice they sent him via the post and told them to take back the 3kg they sent last month. No reason was given. Binh is a labor and environmental activist serving 14 years in prison.

Hundreds of police officers broke up a construction site protest in northern Vietnam Tuesday by beating several demonstrators with batons and arresting about a dozen of them, the protesters told Radio Free Asia.

The US$30 million 15-hectare (37-acre) Long Son Container Port Project would build a 250-meter (820-foot) dock to be operational by 2025 in the Hai Ha commune in the northern province of Thanh Hoa, home to nearly 3,000 households, about 400 of which rely on fishing to make a living.

Tuesday’s arrests came after several consecutive days of protests of the project, with residents taking to the streets and occupying the beach to stop Long Son from working. The residents say they want satisfactory compensation and resettlement plans.

Videos of the protest taken by residents show that the police were equipped with batons and shields. At least one man sustained a head injury, and his clothes were stained with blood.

“At around 4 a.m., hundreds of police officers were sent to the scene and they pushed us away from the beach,” a Hai Ha resident who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons told RFA Vietnamese. “When we did not leave, they used batons to hit us. Many got injuries on their heads and limbs. They also arrested many people and took them away.”

More than 10 people were beaten to the point that they sustained minor injuries, another resident, who was also present at the scene, told RFA on condition of anonymity.

“Also, 16 people were arrested and taken to the Nghi Son Town Police Station,” the second resident said. “We were about to go there to demand the release of our people but were blocked by the police right at the edge of our village.”

Since the protest was broken up, leveling work has been started, the second resident said. “We have lost in the struggle to protect our livelihoods.”

Suppressing images

A third resident said that authorities had jammed mobile phone signals to prevent residents from spreading the images and videos of the suppression. The police also prohibited residents from filming the incident, this person said.

To verify the information provided by residents, RFA contacted the Nghi Son Town police and the Thanh Hoa provincial police. However, staff who answered the phone declined to respond to questions and requested that RFA go to their headquarters with the necessary letters of introduction to be provided with information.

A report of the incident in the provincial government’s mouthpiece, the Thanh Hoa online newspaper, said that the provincial police and the authorities of Nghi Son town and Hai Ha commune had jointly “implemented a plan to ensure the construction of Dock No. 3 of the Long Son Container Port so that the construction contractor can carry out the project on schedule.”

The report also said that because “a number of Hai Ha residents continued obstructing the construction,” responsible forces had to “temporarily put some people in custody to investigate, verify and handle the case in accordance with the law.”

The report did not specify how many residents had been arrested and put into custody, nor did it mention any injuries caused by the police crackdown.

Week-long protests

The protests started on the morning of Oct. 23, when around 300 residents from Hai Ha commune took to the streets to oppose the construction project, which, according to them, will adversely affect their livelihood and living environment.

On the afternoon of the same day, Nghi Son Town Police issued a decision to launch a criminal case against those who had obstructed traffic, causing serious traffic congestion for about one kilometer (0.6 miles).

Despite the announcement many residents continued to gather at the Hai Ha commune beach to prevent construction work, although the police had summoned some people and forced them to pledge in writing not to gather at the construction site.

Dozens of residents from a fishing area in north-central Vietnam this week have protested the building of a port project, despite police launching a criminal investigation of them for disturbing public order, demonstrators said.

On Wednesday, Thanh Hoa provincial authorities mobilized dozens of police officers to force protesting fisherfolk — mostly women — to leave the construction site where a dock is being built, one of the sources said. Though they stayed, police did not take any measures against them and left the area at noon.

About 300 residents of Hai Ha commune first took to the streets on the morning of Oct. 23 with banners and placards to show their opposition to the Long Son Container Port project, which they say will adversely affect their livelihoods and living environment.

“We don’t want the Long Son Container Port project because it is located in the coastal area we inherited from our ancestors, and it has been passed down from generation to generation,” said a villager on Wednesday who declined to be named out of fear of reprisal by authorities.

Fishing provides the only income to cover her family’s expenditures, including her children’s education expenses, she said.

“If the port is built, residents like us will be adversely affected by pollution, and there will be no places for our boats to anchor and no places for us to trade seafood,” she said.

Generating income

Long Son Ltd. Co. is investing more than US$30 million to build the 15-hectare (37-acre) project, which will have a 250-meter (820-foot) dock. It is expected to be operational in 2025.

The project will play a crucial role in the development of the first dedicated container port area at Nghi Son Port, according to state-run Vietnam News Agency. Once Dock No. 3 is built, it will serve as a dike against waves and winds and create a 10-hectare (33-foot) water area for local fishermen to safely anchor their boats.

The port is expected to generate revenue and jobs in Thanh Hoa province, including Hai Ha commune.

State media reported that Thanh Hoa provincial authorities conducted thorough studies and environmental assessments as well as consulted local people on the project. But the woman said representatives of the authorities only went around to people’s homes to try to persuade them not to oppose the project and its implementation.

The protest on Oct. 23 prompted Nghi Son town police to file charges against them for obstructing traffic and causing a kilometer-long (0.6 mile) vehicle backup.

Police at the scene took photos of the protesters, recorded videos and collected other information, some villagers involved in the demonstration said.

Police also issued an order requiring Hai Ha residents to adhere to the law and not to gather in groups to disrupt public order, incite others, or be enticed to obstruct the construction of Dock No. 3 of the Long Son Container Port project.

Threatened with arrest

Police threatened them with arrest for disrupting public order — which carries a sentence of up to seven years in prison — if they continued.

Hai Ha commune includes nearly 3,000 households with about 11,000 inhabitants, most of whom rely on fishing to make a living. The villagers say they fear that port officials will cut off their access to the waters where they fish and prohibit them from anchoring their boats.

Villagers ignored the police order and continued their protest on Tuesday and Wednesday, hoping to prevent the dock’s construction.

The woman quoted above said that the villagers are not afraid of going to jail because they don’t want to lose their home beach.

But if they have to relocate as a result of a loss of livelihoods, villagers will expect satisfactory compensation and a new living area with spaces to safely anchor their boats, she said.

“We staged a march and did not offend anyone or did not cause any harm,” she said. “None of us offended the police. We followed the traffic law, [and] we walked on the roadside and stayed in rows.”

The port will join four other industrial projects surrounding the 1,200-hectare (2,965-acre) commune. The others are a cement factory, a port for coal transportation in the north, a thermal power plant in the west, and a steel factory in the south.

Though the projects have created jobs for locals, they have also created serious environmental pollution, negatively affecting residents’ lives, a second woman said.

A leading Vietnamese climate activist has been jailed for tax evasion, the latest environmentalist put behind bars by the country’s communist government.

A court in Ho Chi Minh City sentenced Hoang Thi Minh Hong to three years in prison for dodging $275,000 in taxes related to her environmental campaign group Change, her lawyer, Nguyen Van Tu, said.

The 50-year-old is at least the fifth environmental campaigner to be jailed on tax evasion charges in the last two years as Vietnam’s authoritarian government steps up a crackdown on activists.

Her husband, Hoang Vinh Nam, said he was “disappointed” at the verdict.

“The sentence given to Hong today was too heavy,” he said. “I think it was unfair to Hong. The defence lawyer did his best but his arguments were not considered properly.”

State media said the charges related to revenue generated by Change from 2012 to 2022. Hong admitted the charges and along with her family paid the state 3.5bn dong ($145,000) in return for leniency, state media said.

Hong founded Change to mobilise Vietnamese, particularly young people, to take action on environmental issues including climate change, the illegal wildlife trade and pollution. But she abruptly shut down the group last year after four environmental and human rights activists were jailed for tax evasion.

“This conviction is a total fraud, nobody should be fooled by it,” said Ben Swanton, the co-director of The 88 Project, which advocates for human rights in Vietnam. “This is yet another example of the law being weaponised to persecute climate activists who are fighting to save the planet.”

Earlier this month Hanoi police detained the director of the Vietnam Initiative for Energy Transition, an independent energy policy thinktank.

Ngo Thi To Nhien, who has worked with the EU, World Bank and UN, was reportedly working on the implementation plan for Vietnam’s Just Energy Transition Partnership, a $15bn G7-funded project to help wean Vietnam off fossil fuels.

No official information on Nhien’s accusation has been made public.

Hong has been recognised internationally for her work: she joined the Obama Foundation Scholars program in New York in 2018 and was listed by Forbes among the 50 most influential Vietnamese women in 2019.

When she was detained in May, the UN’s human rights body was among many international groups to voice concern, warning of the “chilling effect” of tax cases against civil society groups.

Among the four green activists jailed last year was Nguy Thi Khanh, a globally recognised climate and energy campaigner who won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2018. She spent nearly a year in jail before she was released last month.

Authorities in Vietnam arrested the director of an independent energy policy think-tank, in its latest crackdown on experts from the field of environment and ecology in recent years.

Ngo Thi To Nhien, director of the Vietnam Initiative for Energy Transition Social Enterprise, was arrested for allegedly appropriating internal documents relating to state-owned firm Electricity of Vietnam, according to the state media reports.

She was detained on 20 September, spokesperson for the ministry of public security To An Xo, confirmed on Monday.

The official denied that the grounds for arresting Ms Nhien were related to “environmental activism”.

Earlier reports claimed that the think-tank’s top official was detained on 15 September.

“The security investigation agency of Hanoi city police issued an arrest warrant to Ngo Thi To Nhien,” Mr Xo said at a press conference late on Saturday.

If charged, Ms Nhien faced up to five years in prison, according to Vietnam’s criminal code.

According to a rights group, she was detained without any official confirmation.

Ms Nhien is a prominent researcher in Vietnam and has worked with a number of international organisations, including the World Bank, the European Union, the United Nations and the Asian Development Bank. She was reportedly working on an implementation plan for the country’s just energy transition partnership (JETP) at the time of her arrest.

The $15bn project will push Vietnam to wean off fossil fuels and is funded by the G7.

While the immediate reasons for her arrests are not clear, Vietnam is one of the few remaining communist single-party states that tolerate no dissent, including on environmental issues.

Human rights advocacy group The 88 Project have claimed that she has been arrested for “unknown reasons”.

In 2022, Human Rights Watch said that more than 170 activists had been put under house arrest, blocked from travelling or in some cases assaulted by agents of the Vietnamese government in a little-noticed campaign to silence its critics.

Ms Nhien’s arrest comes just days after a Vietnamese climate activist was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of tax fraud.

Hoang Thi Minh Hong, 50, who headed the environmental advocacy group Change, which works on environment and climate issues, was also fined 100 million Vietnamese dong ($4,100) by a court in Ho Chi Minh City, the state-owned Viet Nam News reported.

Two Vietnamese prisoners of conscience, Trinh Ba Phuong and Phan Cong Hai, faced physical assault and shackling after protesting against the harsh treatment and human rights violations in An Diem Prison in Quang Nam Province. This distressing revelation was conveyed to Radio Free Asia (RFA) by Phuong's younger sister, Trinh Thu Thao, on Oct. 13, immediately after the family visit.

The incident happened on Sept. 9, 2023, around 8 a.m., when Phuong and others staged a peaceful protest, displaying a banner denouncing human rights violations at the prison center. Prison guards swiftly intervened, forcibly seizing the banners and violently disciplining the protestors.

Phuong and Hai, both part of the peaceful demonstration, endured harsh punishment. They were shackled for ten days. Phuong later wrote a petition to protest the disciplinary action he faced and sent it to the People’s Procuracy Office of Quang Nam Province. However, his petition did not receive any response.

The two political prisoners also held another peaceful protest on Sept. 2, 2023, to protest against China's aggressive actions in the South China Sea. They received a different response - the authorities confiscated the banners without resorting to violence or discipline.

This distressing episode highlighted the need for immediate attention and action to ensure all prisoners are treated fairly, particularly those unjustly detained for their beliefs and advocacy for human rights and democracy in Vietnam.

Political prisoner Dang Dinh Bach has been assaulted by policemen after telling his family he’d been threatened by other inmates, according to fellow inmate Tran Huynh Duy Thuc who was visited by his family this week.

Bach and Thuc both called their families last Thursday to say people dressed as prisoners had entered their cells, threatening them. Thuc said the inmates who entered his cell had a knife.

On Tuesday, Thuc’s family visited him at Prison No.6 in Nghe An province.

Thuc asked his family to record the names and numbers of 7-8 policemen standing around them, saying they were “those who oppressed and made it difficult for him in the camp,” Thuc’s younger brother Tran Huynh Duy Tan told Radio Free Asia.

“Thuc waited until the end of the visit to say the last word to his family, because he knew that when he said this, he would be stopped,” Tan said.

“In the last sentence, shouting loudly to the family, he said, ‘the day Bach called his family on August 31, he was severely assaulted by police officers.’”

The family had previously sent an urgent request for help to Tran Ba Toan -- head of Prison No. 6 – and the People’s Procuracy of Nghe An Province to request immediate implementation of measures to protect life and ensure the safety of the four political prisoners who had been threatened.

After finishing their visit Tuesday, Thuc’s relatives requested to meet Toan to discuss the case but were told he was on a business trip.

Bach suffered a head injury

Dang Dinh Bach is a lawyer and director of the environmental group, the Center for Legal Studies & Policy for Sustainable Development.

He was arrested in July 2021 and later sentenced to five years in prison for tax evasion.

His wife, Tran Phuong Thao, met with him on Tuesday. Thao said her husband was prevented from bringing a notebook to record their conversation.

“Bach showed me his hand. I saw three cuts on the wrist and hand, each about 2-3 centimeters,” she said.

“I asked him what's wrong? Bach said that I have to understand there are many things he cannot say, but he believes I can understand what is going on in here.”

She said Bachh told her he had a bruise on the back of his neck about 7 cm wide and still has a headache, but the staff refused to examine it.

“On August 31, right after the call home, he was hit in the head from behind,” she said.

RFA’s reporter tried to call Prison No. 6 to verify the information, but nobody answered.

An activist who has organized numerous petition drives in coastal Ha Tinh province has been arrested under Vietnam’s Article 331, the statute commonly used by authorities to silence those speaking out for human rights.

Hoang Van Luan, 35, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with “abusing democratic freedoms,” according to a statement issued by Ky Anh district police to state media.

At least 15 people across Vietnam have been arrested this year and charged under Article 331, according to a Radio Free Asia tally. The statute has been widely criticized by international communities as being vague.

The arrests under Article 331 are a part of Vietnam’s efforts in recent years to stifle political dissent. Activists are also commonly charged with distributing propaganda against the state under Article 117 of the 2015 Penal Code.

Since 2018, Luan has led petition drives for 18 groups on issues presented to officials at the village, district and provincial levels, as well as at central government offices in Hanoi, Ky Anh police said.

The petitions have included the names of 981 people, police said.

In 2019, police in Hanoi’s Ha Dong district imposed an administration penalty with a warning against Luan, saying his group of petitioners were disrupting social order.

This week, the official People’s Police Newspaper ran a photo of Luan and other petitioners who urged authorities to complete a promised water supply project to improve the lives of residents in the Vung Ang Economic Zone in Ky Anh district.

The Vung Ang zone was the site of a devastating toxic waste spill in 2016. The spill by Taiwan-owned Formosa Plastics Group’s steel plant killed an estimated 115 tons of fish and left fishermen jobless in four coastal provinces, including Ha Tinh.

Luan has also organized petitions in the province that have nothing to do with his family interests, such as the North-South Highway, Ky Anh police said on Wednesday. The petitions have led to delays in land clearance for the project, police said.

Dung participated in protests in Hanoi, including demonstrations against China’s occupation of the Paracel Islands – an island group in the South China Sea also claimed by Vietnam – and protests against the Taiwan-owned Formosa Company for polluting the coastline of four central Vietnamese provinces in 2016.

Public protests even over perceived harm to Vietnam’s interests are considered threats to its political stability and are routinely suppressed by the police.

“Truong Van Dung has experienced years of government harassment and intimidation, including police interrogations, house arrest, a travel ban and physical assaults,” said Human Rights Watch Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson ahead of the appeal.

He accused Hanoi of “inexorably adding peaceful activists to the growing list of more than 150 Vietnamese political prisoners,” thereby violating human rights laws and betraying its duty to protect people’s rights as a member of the U.N. Human Rights Council.

“Every time the authorities throw an activist like Truong Van Dung behind bars, respect for human rights in Vietnam takes a hard knock,” Robertson said.

“Donors and international trade partners should be clear that if Vietnam wants growing trade and investment, its leaders need to recognize that people speaking their minds are part of the solution that strengthens, not weakens, the country.”

Truong Van Dung was arrested at the end of May 2022 and held incommunicado for nine months before his trial.

Amnesty International joined calls for Vietnamese authorities to drop all charges against him and spoke out against the country’s judicial system.

“The Vietnamese authorities are yet again misusing the criminal justice system to suppress dissent. Arrested for giving interviews to foreign media, Truong Van Dung should have never been put in prison in the first place,” Amnesty’s Deputy Regional Director of Campaigns Ming Yu Hah said.

Amnesty said Dung’s appeal came as Vietnam cracked down on a growing number of people whose views differ from that of the government, and against independent civil society organizations.

“The unfair charges and inhumane prison conditions [show] the Vietnamese authorities’ willingness to systematically silence dissent in direct violation of international human rights law,” Hah said, calling Vietnam’s ratification of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment and its their seat on the UN Human Rights Council “no more than empty gestures.”

The Investigative Police Agency of Ninh Thuan Province on June 28 arrested a social media user in Phan Rang - Thap Cham City and charged him with “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State” under Article 331 of the Penal Code, state-run media reported.

Le Thach Giang, 66, was accused by the police of setting up an account on a social network called Bọn cường quyền (The Despots) from August 2022 to host live streams and publish articles regarding coercion and confiscation of lands by local authorities. The police also claimed that Giang had called on local people to read websites containing “toxic content” and that he had shared unverified information to distort and defame the Communist Party.

Article 331 is a controversial legal provision in Vietnam’s Penal Code due to its vague and broad definitions. Multiple petitions have been filed to urge the Vietnamese government to abolish this law. According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), Vietnam has arrested at least 10 people this year for their alleged violation of Article 331.

Vietnam has arrested well-known environmentalist Hoang Thi Minh Hong for tax evasion, a government official said Thursday in the latest example of the Vietnamese government’s routine use of financial charges to imprison green activists.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ deputy spokesperson Nguyen Duc Thang confirmed on Thursday to reporters that Hong, her husband, and two staff members were arrested the day before.

Hoang Thi Minh Hong is known for her activities in the fight against climate change, including bringing the Earth Hour initiative from Australia to Vietnam.

She is also famous for being the first Vietnamese woman to set foot in Antarctica in 1997, and in 2019, she was listed by Forbes magazine as one of the 50 most influential women in Vietnam.

Hong is the founder and executive director of CHANGE – a non-profit organization with the mission of inspiring the community and raising environmental awareness with the aim of protecting nature and wild animals, combating climate change, and promoting sustainable development.

Based on her activism, climateheroes.org included her in their 2015 “Climate Heroes” list. Four years later, in 2019, she was voted among the Top 5 Ambassadors of Inspiration at the 2019 WeChoice Awards and was named the Green Warrior of the Year at the Elle Style Awards.

Hoang Thi Minh Hong is the fifth activist in Vietnam to have been arrested on the charge of tax evasion.

International organizations and foreign governments have criticized Vietnam for targeting and detaining environmental activists and urged the Southeast Asian nation to release those who had been arrested on tax evasion charges.

Hong’s arrest came a week after a U.N. working group of independent human rights experts called on Vietnam to immediately release a detained climate activist serving a five-year prison term for tax evasion, saying he had been arrested arbitrarily and tried unfairly.

Lawyer and environmentalist Dang Dinh Bach, 44, who had campaigned to reduce Vietnam’s reliance on coal was arrested June 2021 and then sentenced to five years in jail.

Last week, Facebook users observed that Save Tam Dao, a fan page, was missing from the platform for a period of two days. On May 28, 2023, the page reappeared, confirming that it had indeed been shut down during those two days. Its administrators do not know the reasons behind the sudden suspension.

Save Tam Dao is a fan page dedicated to an environmental protection organization in Vietnam. The page serves as a platform for sharing updates on the unlawful activities of large corporations that harm the country's natural resources. Unfortunately, the volunteers associated with this organization have been subjected to harassment and even physical abuse by unidentified individuals. Moreover, the fan page on social media, particularly Facebook, faces frequent instances of online abuse. Furthermore, it is sometimes deactivated without prior notice to its administrators.

Many unregistered civil society groups like Save Tam Dao routinely experience this treatment on Facebook.

On 25 April, Mr Ta Mien Linh, born in 1945, of Vung Tau city, was prosecuted for 'abuse democratic freedoms' under sec 331 of the penal code, in relation to incidents in 2022, in Bac Giang province (North Vietnam).

Bac Giang police issued the prosecution order.

Mr Linh reportedly travelled from Vung Tau (South Vietnam) to Bac Giang from April to Aug 2022 to provide support for a group of residents of Chu Nguyen neighbourhood, Voi town, Lang Giang, Bac Giang province. They had contacted Mr Linh for legal advice, after their land had been forcefully confiscated by authorities. On Youtube, Mr Linh had accused Bac Giang officials of colluding with private businesses to confiscate the land of the people here at cheap prince, subdivided, then resold at much higher price, infringing the law.

Local officials said Mr Linh had engaged in illegal activities and he was not a real lawyer.

Swinging batons and bashing villagers, Vietnamese police dispersed dozens of members of the Ede ethnic group who were attempting to interfere with a drainage project they fear will discharge wastewater into a lake they depend on, sources told Radio Free Asia.

Three villagers were hospitalized and 12 were arrested, they said.

“They hit us, injuring seven people of whom three had to be hospitalized due to the injuries on their heads, mouths, ears and shoulders,” said a protester who requested anonymity for security reasons.

Ea M’ta lake in the southern province of Dak Lak will be the endpoint of a rainwater drainage system project proposed by the province’s Cu Kuin district, the provincial and district governments said.

But residents living nearby fear that in addition to rainwater, the project could also divert wastewater into the lake, which could harm the environment and flood surrounding areas.

Though a local government task force reviewed the project and said that no major damage to the ecosystem or to water resources would result from it, the protesters do not trust the review, they said.

The clash with the police, armed with batons and shields, occurred on Thursday and Friday.

A video filmed by a witness shows several dozen police officers confronting a similar number of residents, mostly women, carrying the Vietnamese flag. They were mostly speaking in the Ede language, but at times they also spoke Vietnamese.

“We are determined to stop the District People’s Committee from discharging wastewater into the lake,” someone in the video said. “We can sacrifice our lives for this.We will resolutely protect [the lake].”

The protester who spoke with RFA said that the police shoved down a woman who was two months pregnant, and broke the shoulder of another protester who passed out shortly afterwards.

Police also knocked down a man and kicked his head repeatedly until his ears and mouth began to bleed.

The three people who were hospitalized returned to their homes on Monday, according to the source. Those who were arrested were all released after signing a paper pledging that they would not return to the protest or face prison.

Radio Free Asia attempted to contact Bui Hong Quy, chief of staff of Dak Lak provincial People's Committee and the Cu Kuin district People's Committee to verify the source’s account, but received no response.

According to state media, the drainage system project with a total investment of nearly 36.7 billion dong (U.S.$1.53 million) was approved by Dak Lak People's Committee in 2019. The nearly 4 kilometer (2.5 mile) drainage canal would begin at the Cu Kuin District Military Command and terminate at the lake.

The Dak Lak People’s Committee’s task force reviewed the project’s impacts on the environment, safety, and living conditions. The review indicated that the project would not negatively affect the environment, land, climate, and water sources serving residents living in the surrounding areas, state media said.

Residents living near the lake, however, said the review did not reflect reality.

Y Quynh Buon Dap, a human rights and religious activist who lives in Thailand as a refugee, said residents were worried because the survey was not thorough and did not include areas that could be affected by the project in the future.

On April 20, authorities stated that they were determined to complete the final component of the project, and that all activities that would prevent its implementation would be seen as unlawful.

On 20 April, two women, Mrs Thai Thi Be (67 years old, of Phuc Trach village, Huong Khe district, Ha Tinh province) and Mrs Hoang Thi Son (65 years old, also Huong Khe district resident), were detained and subject to criminal proceedings for abuse democratic freedoms under sec 331 of the penal code.

State media Cong An Ha Tinh (Ha Tinh police) 21 April reported on their arrests but did not mention the reason of the arrests.

RFA Viet reported that Mrs Be posted on their social media accounts and Youtube, that Party leaders of Phuc Trach village abused their power, used their power to appropriate public land worth 3 billion dong.

On her youtube channel 5 months ago, Mrs Be introduced herself as someone who 'is always loyal to the Party, who always follows the example set by President Ho Chi Minh, Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong...', and 'had to tell the truth' about land-related wrongdoings by local Party officials even though many of her comrades told her to shut up or she might be jailed. She said she had full evidence and had taken legal action against those officials. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSrQ9qMbtV0

A land rights activist accused of giving interviews to foreign media and storing illegally printed books was sentenced to six years in prison for “conducting anti-state propaganda.”

Only Truong Van Dung’s wife was allowed to attend the half-day trial as a witness. Many activists in Hanoi told Radio Free Asia that they had been forced to stay at home or were prevented from getting near the court.

According to his indictment, Dung gave interviews to U.S.-based Saigon Dallas Radio between 2015 and 2022 that distorted and smeared Vietnam’s government, propagated fabricated information and caused confusion among the people. The interviews and video clips were posted on social media.

The Hanoi People’s Procuracy also accused Dung of storing copies of two books: “Popular Politics” by human rights activist Pham Doan Trang and “Life of People Behind Bars” by former prisoner of conscience Pham Thanh Nghien. The books were allegedly printed and distributed illegally.

Dung, 65, was convicted under Article 88 of Vietnam’s 1999 penal code, a controversial law used to target dissidents that rights groups say is one of several wielded to stifle voices of dissent in the one-party communist state.

‘Latest in a long line’ His wife, Nghiem Thi Hop, told RFA that defense lawyers argued that he did not conduct the interviews as alleged in the indictment. But prosecutors said the Hanoi Department of Information and Communications concluded that it was Dung who spoke to the program.

She said police used physical violence against Dung during interrogations.

Dung has participated in protests in Hanoi, including demonstrations against China’s occupation of the Paracel Islands — an island group in the South China Sea also claimed by Vietnam — and protests against the Taiwan-owned Formosa Company for polluting the coastline of four central Vietnamese provinces of Vietnam in 2016.

Public protests even over perceived harm to Vietnam’s interests are considered threats to its political stability and are routinely suppressed by the police.

Before the trial, Human Rights Watch called on Vietnam to drop all charges against Dung. The organization’s deputy Asia director, Phil Robertson, said in a statement on Monday that Dung was “the latest in a long line of human rights defenders silenced by the Vietnamese government for protesting against human rights violations and advocating for reforms.”

At least 11 activists have been detained for investigation on Article 88 charges while they await a scheduled date for their trial.

Sentence in case tied to U.S.-based organization- In a separate case, an appeals court in Ho Chi Minh City upheld sentences for two people accused of being members of the Provisional Government of Vietnam – a U.S.-based opposition group described by Vietnamese authorities as a terrorist organization.

Nguyen Van Nghia, 48, and Duong Thi Be, 41, were sentenced to seven years and five years in prison, respectively, according to the online edition of the People’s Newspaper.

Both were charged with “carrying out activities to overthrow the people’s government” under Article 109 of Vietnam’s 2015 Penal Code. They were first sentenced in October by Kien Giang province’s court.

Based in Orange County, California, the Provisional Government of Vietnam was founded in 1991 by former soldiers and refugees loyal to the U.S.-backed government of South Vietnam that was overthrown and absorbed by North Vietnam in 1975. The group now refers to itself as the Third Republic of Vietnam, according to its website.

According to the indictment, Nghia visited the homepage of the Provisional Government of Vietnam in 2014. He also participated in a “referendum” in 2018 to elect Vietnamese-American citizen Dao Minh Quan, who leads the organization, as president of the Third Republic of Vietnam.

More than 60 arrests since 2017- Nghia was also said to have recruited many people to join the organization, and at the end of October 2021, he registered Be, his girlfriend, to be a member of the organization. He also allegedly called on government and military officers in Vietnam to join the organization.

Later in 2021, he was assigned to be the official spokesman for the organization in Vietnam.

According to RFA statistics, at least 60 people in Vietnam have been convicted for being members of Dao Minh Quan’s organization since 2017. They were all charged with “carrying out activities against the state,” and many were accused of committing violent and terrorist acts, including making petrol bombs and burning airport garages.

However, some people, including Tran Van Luong, who was sentenced to five years in 2017 and released last year, have told RFA that they were not a member of the organization.

According to Luong, police arrested him only because he had been dissatisfied with the Vietnamese government and had voiced his criticism on Facebook. Then they forced him to make statements that he had contacted Dao Minh Quan’s organization.

A leader from the organization told RFA that it would take action to help the arrestees in Vietnam. The official did not disclose what would be done.

Bleeding and apparently afflicted with uterine fibroids, Vietnamese prisoner of conscience Nguyen Thi Tam has been suffering in prison without adequate medical care, her family told Radio Free Asia.

Human rights groups have blamed her condition on horrible prison conditions and demanded her immediate release.

Tam is serving a 6-year sentence at Gia Trung Prison in the southern central province of Gia Lai for “making, storing, distributing or disseminating information, documents and items against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” in violation of Article 117 of the penal code – a law frequently used by authorities to quiet dissent.

During a phone call on Mar. 3, Tam told her daughter Nguyen Thi Mai that she was suffering from severe bleeding and declining health and had to be sent to the Gia Lai provincial hospital on Feb. 28. She made the 50-kilometer (31-mile) journey in a box truck with no medical personnel on hand.

"My mother said that she felt exhausted and weak as many parts of the road were bumpy while she was bleeding a lot. However, the driver refused to stop,” Mai told RFA’s Vietnamese Service. “The doctor concluded that my mother had uterine fibroids, but she was not allowed to stay at the hospital for monitoring or proper treatment."

Tam was sent back to the prison on the same day, and she is now receiving treatment at the prison’s clinic, but the condition has left her weak to the point that she cannot even walk without the help of others.

Dong Tam commune dispute

Authorities arrested Tam and three others in June 2020 for expressing their opinions on social media about a land dispute at the Dong Tam commune that turned violent when authorities raided the commune in January of that year, leading to the deaths of three protesters and a village leader.

Tam has served prison sentences twice before in 2008 and 2014.

Conditions at the prison are difficult, Mai said. She said Tam told her that she was ordered to participate in cleaning the prison, but given no specific goal or target like other inmates, and she was “allowed” to grow vegetables for her own consumption.

Failure to participate in the prison labor would result in constant confinement in her cell and she would be denied opportunities to move around or communicate with other inmates.

Additionally, the prison’s water is unclean, so inmates are forced to buy bottled water from the prison canteen for a 500,000 dong fee (more than US$20).

RFA attempted to contact the Gia Trung Prison to verify the information but no one answered the phone.

The London-based Amnesty International told RFA that the prison’s failure to provide proper medical treatment to Nguyen Thi Tam has made her ongoing medical problems worse.

Joe Freedman, the media manager for Amnesty International’s Southeast Asia Office, said in an email that three other prisoners of conscience had passed away because of poor or late medical treatment in Vietnamese prisons.

"Amnesty International is calling on the Vietnamese authorities to urgently provide adequate health care to Nguyen Thi Tam and to immediately and unconditionally release her and other activists imprisoned for peacefully exercising their human rights," he said.

Award-winning environmentalist Nguy Thi Khanh will have her prison sentence reduced by three months.

On November 21, Khanh’s sentence was reduced from 24 months to 21 months by an appellate court in Hanoi.

Khanh, one of Vietnam’s most prominent environmental experts, was sentenced to two years in prison in June on “tax evasion” charges. Khanh is the first Vietnamese person to receive the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, in 2018, which came with a $200,000 prize. The tax evasion charge stems from the fact that Khanh failed to pay about $18,000 in taxes (10% of the prize). Khanh has said she was unaware of the tax obligation on the prize money. The reduction in her sentence was reportedly attributed to her admission of failure to pay the tax and her many contributions to society.

There is evidence to suggest that Khanh’s arrest and prosecution are politically-motivated. An outspoken critic of the use of coal, Khanh joined three other anti-coal environmental activists– Mai Phan Loi, Dang Dinh Bach, and Bach Hung Duong— who were convicted earlier this year on similar charges and handed multi-year sentences.

Vietnam’s tax laws for registered NGOs are confusing and cumbersome. Further, Khanh, like her counterparts, faced criminal, not civil proceedings, which have been supervised by state security. Khanh also did not receive notice of need for repayment prior to her arrest. The cases raise flags of a widening crackdown on civil society groups that contradicts Vietnam’s public rhetoric on the importance of fighting climate change.

Vietnam’s jailing of climate leaders seems to have been at least partly the reason why international donors recently awarded Indonesia, instead of Vietnam, with billions of dollars to fight climate change. If Vietnam is serious about its commitments to an energy transition, it cannot continue to hold its most valuable environmental voices behind bars nor force NGOs to navigate perplexing tax laws. We call on Vietnam to clarify its tax laws and to release Khanh, Duong, Loi, and Bach immediately. We will continue to closely monitor these cases until their release.

In the latest clash over land-use rights in Vietnam, police have detained seven residents in the Central Highlands for trying to prevent men from cutting down a farmer’s coffee and durian trees amid a contract dispute, residents said.

The five men had been sent to cut down the trees because the farmer, identified as Nguyen Thanh Giang, hadn’t given Thang Loi Coffee Joint Stock Co., the company he was leasing the land from, the amount of coffee beans stipulated in his contract.

Since 2019, Giang had refused to hand over any beans due to bad weather and a plunge in coffee prices. After that, a court had ordered him to pay the company nearly 5,200 kilograms (11,500 pounds) of fresh beans as rent for the 2018-19 season. The farmer filed an appeal, but the appellate court upheld the earlier decision.

In Vietnam, citizens must obtain permission from the government for use of land. If the state grants parcels of land to state-owned companies or other businesses, then local farmers are at their mercy.

Early Monday, after hearing the men sawing down the trees in the dark, neighbors helped Giang chase them away. They caught three of the men and held them near the Hoa Dong commune in Krong Dak district of Dak Lak province, a resident told RFA.

When word of the incident reached authorities in town, they sent 20 vans with up to 500 police officers to the scene to rescue the trio and arrest 25 people.

After interrogations, police released 18 and sent the remaining seven to a temporary detention center, charging them with “resisting enforcement authorities” and “illegally holding people,” state media reported.

Giang’s orchard had about 30,000 coffee trees and more than 100 durian trees, the latter of which would begin bearing fruit in 2023, the resident said. Giang later posted on his Facebook page that about two-thirds of the trees in his orchard had been chopped down.

More than 1,000 households in Hoa Dong commune now face similar situations because they all rent agricultural land. In 1998, the families bought trees on the leased land and began sharing ownership with Thang Loi Coffee which held a 51% stake, said the resident.

When Thang Loi changed its name and became a joint stock company, it forced the families who rented its land to buy company’s shares at preferential prices. But Giang and others did not purchase them because they believed the company’s move was not legal.

Disgruntles residents petitioned the President’s Office, which directed the Dak Lak People’s Committee to resolve the matter, though it has not been settled, the source said.

Hundreds of local households that have leased a total of 2,300 hectares (5,700 acres) of land from the company are at risk of losing all of their assets — coffee and durian trees, said the resident.

RFA could not reach Do Hoang Phuc, chairman of the board of directors and general director of Thang Loi Coffee Joint Stock Company, for comment. Hoang Thi Thu Ha, deputy general director in charge of sales, declined to answer questions. RFA also could not reach Krong Pak Police for comment.

Vietnamese authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Le Manh Ha and stop treating independent journalists as criminals for merely doing their jobs of reporting the news, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.

On Tuesday, October 25, the People’s Court of Tuyen Quang province sentenced Ha after a two-day trial to eight years in prison to be followed by five years of house arrest for violating Article 117 of the penal code, an anti-state provision that bars “making, storing, distributing or spreading” news or information against the state, according to news reports.

The ruling said Ha produced 21 video clips and 13 articles that the court deemed as “propaganda against the socialist state of Vietnam” and posted them to his Voice of the People Le Ha TV (TDTV) YouTube-based news channel and personal Facebook page, according to the same reports.

Ha pleaded innocent to the charges at his trial and indicated he would appeal directly after the verdict was handed down, according to a U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Asia report that quoted his defense lawyers.

“Vietnamese authorities must free journalist Le Manh Ha, who was wrongly convicted and harshly sentenced to eight years in prison for merely doing his job as a journalist,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Vietnam must stop equating independent journalism with criminal behavior and release all the journalists it wrongfully holds behind bars.”

Ha was arrested by plainclothes police in Tuyen Quang City on January 12, 2022, after which police raided his house and seized 20 books, two laptop computers, and a cellphone, according to multiple news reports.

Days before his arrest, Ha posted a commentary on Facebook about the “unequal fight” in eliminating official corruption, according to a U.S. Congress-funded Voice of America report.

The report said Ha’s TDTV channel often discusses legal matters related to state land grabs, a politically sensitive issue in the Communist Party-ruled nation, and he airs interviews with state land grab victims.

CPJ’s email to Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security did not immediately receive a response. Vietnam is one of the world’s worst jailers of journalists, with at least 23 members of the press behind bars for their work at the time of CPJ’s December 1, 2021 prison census.

Political prisoner Dang Dinh Bach‘s wife, Tran Phuong Thao, updated The 88 Project after a recent visit and phone call with Bach.

He has been transferred to a new prison; his wife did not find out until she went to the old prison to visit him. Political prisoners and their families commonly face this practice in Vietnam.

Bach is serving five years in prison on charges of “tax evasion.” In August, a court upheld the sentence.

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Update, November 2, 2022:

On October 16, Dang Dinh Bach’s wife, Tran Phuong Thao, visited Hanoi Detention Center No. 1 and found out that Bach was transferred to Prison No 6 in Nghe An Province on October 14.

Prison No. 6 is 300 km away from Hanoi, so Bach’s family (Thao, Bach’s father-in-law, Bach’s brother-in-law, and Bach’s sister) departed on October 19 at 4 am so that they could register to meet with Bach within the day. According to Thao, the prison authorities made it difficult for the family to find out in which area of the prison Bach was held. It wasn’t until 10:30 am that they were able to register to meet with Bach. The family finally met with him in person at 4 pm. Only Thao and Bach’s sister were allowed to see Bach. Even though Bach’s father-in-law and brother-in-law prepared all of the required documents to submit to the prison authorities for the visit, they were denied.

Bach is reported to be pretty healthy. Thao told The 88 Project that she did ask Bach about the living conditions at Prison No 6., but Bach did not answer her question. “Perhaps they reminded him not to say anything about it,” Thao said. She also shared that she had sent warm clothes, necessities, and books for him.

On October 27, Bach called home for 10 minutes, asking Thao to continue her international advocacy for him, as he is innocent. He told his wife that he had not received any books, while Thao told him that she has not received the letter he sent.

Per Luong's daughter, Nguyen Thi Xoan, Le Dinh Luong’s family went to visit him at Nam Ha Prison on October 7, they were told by a prison official that Luong did not want to see them because he did not want to wear the prison uniform. When the family pressed them to see a statement signed by Luong confirming that, the official only showed a piece of paper with Luong’s signature but did not let them read its content. When the official was asked how long Luong had refused to wear prison uniforms, he responded: “Today.” The family then remembered that Luong once told them that “If one day I cannot come out to see our family, know that something has happened to me in prison.” Luong’s family is asking for any help they can get to find out what has happened to him. The 88 Project encourages supporters to share the news and contact Nam Ha Prison for an official statement.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security continues to send prisoners of conscience far from their families to serve their prison sentences, as an additional punishment.

Most recently, Hanoi activist Nguyen Thi Tam was transferred to Gia Trung Prison camp in Gia Lai province, nearly 1,200 kilometers (746 miles) from her home. Another activist from Vietnam’s capital, Trinh Ba Phuong, was taken to An Diem Prison camp in the central province of Quang Nam, 800 kilometers (497 miles) away from his home on Sept. 21, one month after the Higher People’s Court in Hanoi rejected his appeal and upheld his 10-year prison sentence in an appeal hearing in mid-August.

Phuong’s wife Do Thi Thu and his father-in-law and sister-in-law left their hometown in Hoa Binh province on the evening of Sept. 25 and did not arrive at the prison until the next morning.

“It took us 29 hours to get to the prison and back. The cost per person was at least VND1 million (U.S.$ 44) for both ways,” she said.

Also arrested on charges of "conducting anti-state propaganda" under Article 117 of the Criminal Code for human rights activities and speaking out about a police raid in Dong Tam commune in early 2020, Thu's mother-in-law and brother-in-law, Can Thi Theu, and her son Trinh Ba Tu were both sentenced to eight years in prison.

Theu is currently serving her sentence at Prison camp No. 5 in Yen Dinh district, Thanh Hoa province while Tu is serving his at Prison camp No. 6 in Thanh Chuong district, Nghe An province, neither of which is convenient for prison visits.

Thu said to save costs her father-in-law, former prisoner of conscience Trinh Ba Khiem, rode a motorbike from their family farm in Hoa Binh to the two prisons. It took him more than two hours to reach Prison camp No. 5, and 8 hours to get to Prison camp No. 6.

According to human rights organizations, Vietnam is holding hundreds of prisoners of conscience, although Hanoi has always insisted that there are none in Vietnam, only people who break the law.

It has been a long-running practice to send the vast majority of prisoners of conscience to serve their sentences far from their families. Those with families in the North are transferred to prisons in the Central region or the South, while those in the South are sent to the Central region or the North.

Truong Minh Duc, Vice President of the Brotherhood for Democracy was sentenced to 12 years in prison for subversion in 2018 and is currently being held at Prison camp No. 6 in Nghe An.

His wife Nguyen Kim Thanh said that from Ho Chi Minh City to Nghe An, she spends more than VND5 million (U.S.$ 211) on plane tickets, bus tickets and motorbike taxis every time. On the Lunar New Year and other public holidays, the cost of traveling to the prison may rise to over VND7 million (U.S.$ 295).

Prison No. 6 has an extremely harsh climate which affects prisoners’ health Thanh said:

“When it is sunny, the weather is too harsh. He [her husband] has to wet towels and clothes to hang on the window and his neck to cool it down,”she said.

“It would be very cold in winter because the prison is in a mountainous area. As the prison cell is not small, the cell is very cold due to wind.”

Because of bad weather conditions, Duc has headaches and high blood pressure in the hot season and colds and allergies in the winter.

Nguyen Tuong Thuy, Vice Chairman of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam, is serving an 11-year prison sentence at An Phuoc Prison camp in the southern province of Binh Duong. He was arrested in May 2020 on charges of "conducting propaganda against the state" in the same case as President Pham Chi Dung and editor Le Huu Minh Tuan.

His wife Pham Thi Lan takes at least two nights and one day to get from Hanoi to the prison and back, and it costs at least VND4 million (U.S.$ 168) if she can buy a cheap round-trip flight ticket between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. If she can't buy cheap airline tickets and has to get them from Vietnam Airlines, the cost can be up to VND7-8 million (U.S.$295-337) for a visit.

An activist commented that the transfer of prisoners of conscience to prisons far from their families makes prisoners unaccustomed to living in new climatic conditions, which leads to them getting sick more often, especially as prison medical care is limited. Sending them away to prison also makes it difficult for their families to find the time and money to visit.

Not all prisoners of conscience are sent a long way from their family homes. Journalist Le Van Dung (Le Dung Vova) was transferred to Nam Ha Prison camp after losing his appeal against a five-year prison sentence. His wife Bui Thi Hue said it takes her four hours and about VND1 million (U.S.$ 42) for each visit.

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.

On August 17, the Hanoi People’s High Court upheld its previous conviction in an appeals hearing for the two land rights activists, Trinh Ba Phuong and Nguyen Thi Tam, previously convicted of “making, storing, and distributing anti-State information, materials, and products” under Article 117 of Vietnam’s 2015 Penal Code.

After their first-instance trial on December 15, 2021, Phuong was sentenced to a 10-year prison sentence and five-year probation, while Tam received a six-year prison sentence and three years probation.

Phuong and Tam, farmers from Duong Noi Commune, Hanoi, were prominently known for defending land rights and campaigning against the Vietnamese authorities’ illegal land confiscations in their hometown in the mid-2000s. The two land activists also raised their voices regarding police raids in Dong Tam Village, another land conflict hotspot, which resulted in the deaths of three police officers and the village leader, Le Dinh Kinh.

Trinh Ba Phuong was also a co-author of the “Dong Tam Report,” which helped shed light on what actually happened in Dong Tam on the early morning of January 9, 2020, when the violent conflict happened. Phuong also met with representatives from the U.S Embassy in Vietnam on February 6, 2020, to raise concerns about the arrests of 27 Dong Tam villagers and call for an independent investigation into the case.

The Vietnamese government has consistently branded the Dong Tam land protestors as “terrorists” and accused them of murdering the deceased police officers. It also intimidated and arrested those who sought to contest this narrative or call for an independent investigation.

The families of Phuong and Tam were barred from entering the courtroom by plainclothes police agents. Their earlier requests to attend the trial were ignored by court authorities. The Hanoi appellate court had earlier declared that the trial would be a public one.

Do Thi Thu, Phuong’s wife wrote on Facebook that the plainclothes police chased them away when the police van carrying her husband approached the court gate area. Thu added that a plainclothes policeman allegedly grabbed her by the nape and pulled her away from the court area while cursing at her. “One policeman even slapped me,” Thu wrote.

Nguyen Thanh Mai, Tam’s daughter, wrote on social media that the Tam family was also not allowed to attend the appeal hearing.

“Vietnam’s hollow promise to support the country’s farmers by providing them with land is exposed by the authorities’ rights abusing treatment of Trinh Ba Phuong and Nguyen Thi Tam,” wrote Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director of Human Rights Watch, one day before the appeal hearing.

“In their single-minded pursuit of power and profits, government and Communist Party of Vietnam officials have forgotten that farmers were among the original supporters of the revolution, and now they are throwing farmers’ interests out the window,” he added.

Phil Robertson also urged Vietnam’s international donors, UN agencies, and Hanoi-based diplomats to “vocally oppose rights abusing treatment of Trinh Ba Phuong and Nguyen Thi Tam, and demand the appeals court quash their unjust convictions for actions that simply constituted peaceful advocacy using their civil and political rights.”