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Detained Vietnamese blogger and YouTuber Duong Van Thai is still in prison almost three weeks after his temporary detention was supposed to have expired, his family told Radio Free Asia.

Thai, 41, was living in Thailand when he disappeared on April 13 in what many believe was an abduction.

Vietnam has neither confirmed nor denied that he was abducted and taken back to Vietnam, but shortly after his disappearance, authorities announced that they had apprehended him for trying to sneak into the country illegally.

They did not confirm to his family that he was under arrest on official charges until July, when they sent a letter saying he was being held in a detention center in Hanoi, that he was charged with “anti-state propaganda,” and that the temporary detention would end on Aug. 12.

According to Vietnamese law, the maximum temporary detention time, which applies to extremely serious offenses, is four months. In complex cases that require more time, this period can be extended, but only if the investigating agency sends a written request to the judicial authorities.

Thai’s 70-year-old mother, Duong Thi Lu, told RFA Vietnamese that she tried to visit her son in the detention center, but she was not allowed to meet him.

“I’ve been there twice,” she said. “On my first trip, because I went there on a Saturday, they did not receive me. The next time was on a Friday. They received me at the front gate and allowed me to send in some supplies but did not let me in.”

She said that the detention center staff told her she would not be allowed to see her son until the investigation ends. She also said she intends to return next week to give him more supplies.

Lu also said that because of her advanced age, she was not capable nor alert enough to hire a defense lawyer for her son, and she plans to rely on support from her son’s friends.

RFA made repeated phone calls to the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security via the two official telephone numbers posted on its website but no one answered.

Critical posts

Duong Van Thai had fled to Thailand in late 2018 or early 2019, fearing political persecution for his many posts and videos that criticized the Vietnamese government and leaders of the Communist Party on Facebook and YouTube.

He had been granted refugee status by the United Nations refugee agency’s office in Bangkok. He was interviewed to resettle in a third country right before his disappearance near his rental home in central Thailand’s Pathum Thani province.

Organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, and the Committee to Protect Journalists have accused Vietnam’s security agents of kidnapping Duong Van Thai and bringing him back to Vietnam in a manner similar to how they abducted RFA-affiliated blogger Truong Duy Nhat in Bangkok in 2019 or former oil company CEO Trinh Xuan Thanh in Berlin in 2017.

Ahead of Bui Tuan Lam’s appeal trial scheduled for Aug. 30, his family told Project 88 that security police have posted guards around their home since Aug. 28 and have been taking pictures and videos of their movements and activities.

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.

Tran Huynh Duy Thuc told his family in a short phone call that men armed with knives entered his cell. Thuc said his belongings and physical health were under threat. He was supposed to be allowed a 10-minute phone call but the line was abruptly cut after only three minutes. However, in that short span, Thuc was able to give his sister the names of two prison officials who presumably are responsible for his well being: Phạm Văn Luyến (#559-846) and Nguyễn Văn Hiệu (#569-921).

A court in Vietnam on Wednesday upheld the five and a half year prison sentence for activist Bui Tuan Lam, known as “Onion Bae,” his wife Le Than Lam told Radio Free Asia.

On May 25, Bui was convicted of propaganda under Article 117 of the country’s Penal Code, after being found guilty of criticizing the government online.

Le told RFA Vietnamese she was not allowed to attend Wednesday’s three-hour hearing at the Higher People’s Court in Danang. but his lawyer Le Dinh Viet was permitted to represent him there.

However, the lawyer was not allowed to meet his client on Tuesday at the detention center where Bui is being held so they were unable to prepare for the appeal.

Le Than Lam said hundreds of policemen in uniform and plain clothes were deployed outside the court, filming her and others who had gathered there to wait for the outcome. She told RFA everyone stayed calm when the appeal was rejected, so the police had no reason to arrest them.

Bui, 39, ran a beef noodle stall in Danang. He achieved notoriety in 2021 after posting an online video mimicking the Turkish celebrity chef Nusret Gökçe, known as “Salt Bae.”

The video, which went viral on social media, was seen as poking fun at To Lam, Vietnam’s minister of public security. To was caught on film being hand-fed a GBP1,450 (U.S.$1,830) gold-encrusted steak by Salt Bae at his London restaurant.

In Bui’s video clip, he dramatically sprinkles spring onions into a bowl of soup, mimicking the signature move of the celebrity chef.

Bui was summoned by Danang police for questioning and arrested and charged in September 2022.

Danang People’s Procuracy claimed Bui posted articles on Facebook and YouTube, including content that was “distorting, defaming people’s government” and “fabricating and causing confusion among people.”

Article 117 of the country’s Penal Code criminalizes “making, storing, distributing or disseminating information, documents and items against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.” It is frequently used by authorities to restrict freedom of expression and opinions deemed critical of the government.

On Tuesday, a court upheld the eight-year jail sentence of democracy activist Tran Van Bang, who was also convicted under Article 117.

He is among six activists and journalists who have been convicted on charges of anti-state propaganda by the Vietnamese government since January.

Vietnam has convicted at least 60 people under Article 117, according to human rights groups.

A court in Vietnam on Tuesday upheld the eight-year jail sentence of democracy activist Tran Van Bang for anti-state propaganda during a brief hearing in which authorities dismissed the arguments of the defense and “read the old verdict,” according to family members.

Bang’s conviction is the latest in Hanoi’s ongoing campaign to silence bloggers and activists. Vietnam has convicted at least 60 such people for “making, storing and disseminating materials against the State” under the same Article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code, according to rights groups.

He is among six activists and journalists who have been convicted on charges of anti-state propaganda by the Vietnamese government since January.

The Superior People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday sided with the court of first instance, which in May sentenced Bang, 62, to eight years in prison and three years probation.

The decision prompted Western governments and international NGOs to call for his release, saying he was denied his right to freedom of speech.

One of Bang’s siblings told RFA Vietnamese that Bang and his defense lawyer presented their argument for his innocence, saying his posts to social media were his own views and not intended to oppose the government.

“However, [at the end] the Procuracy’s representative read the old verdict and immediately made a conclusion, saying that they did not accept the arguments of either the defense lawyer or Tran Bang,” said the sibling, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisal.

Authorities only allowed family members to view the proceedings on a closed circuit camera feed broadcast to a nearby room. Diplomatic representatives from foreign governments were also permitted to view the feed on Tuesday, after being barred from Bang’s last trial.

Bang’s sibling told RFA his family was surprised by how quickly Tuesday’s proceedings took place and said Bang was not allowed to make a closing statement.

“The judge read out the decision, saying my brother no longer had the right to appeal, and then tasked the police to execute the judgment.” they said. “Right after that, they took my brother away. Our family quickly ran out [of the room] to see him but couldn’t make it in time.”

Repeated calls by RFA to the Superior People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City for comment on the decision went unanswered Tuesday.

Problematic posts

Tran Van Bang, better known as Tran Bang, is a war veteran who fought during the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War. He had regularly participated in demonstrations against China for its controversial claims over territories in the South China Sea.

He was arrested in March 2022 for what was initially determined to be 31 Facebook posts between March 2016 and August 2021.

After a subsequent investigation, authorities found that he wrote 39 problematic posts between three Facebook accounts that that were seen as “distorting, defaming and speaking badly of the people’s government; providing false information, causing confusion among the people; and expressing hate and discontent towards the authorities, Party, State, and country’s leaders,” the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported at the time, citing the indictment.

Prior to Tuesday’s hearing, Bang’s defense lawyer Tran Dinh Dung told RFA that his client had been suffering from a tumor in his groin that had not been determined benign or malignant, and that an operation to remove the growth had been delayed by red tape at his detention center. The state of Bang’s health situation was not immediately clear.

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.

Tran Huynh Duy Thuc’s family visited him on August 16 but was told he refused to meet them. They left the food and supplies they brought for him, including medication he had requested, with prison officials. After they had left, they were called to return and take everything back because he refused to accept the items after finding out that necessity items like medicine were crossed off the list by the warden. The family believe this was an act of protest against prison officials and his way of signaling that he’s still being mistreated. Currently one of the longest serving political prisoners in Vietnam, Thuc is 14 years into his 16-year sentence.

Relatives of a stand-up comedian said he was detained by police in Ho Chi Minh City, beaten and then fined for videos about social issues that he posted to his popular YouTube account six years ago.

Police arrested Nguyen Phuc Gia Huy on Tuesday and later fined him 7.5 million Vietnamese dong (about US$315) for videos that authorities said carried untruthful content. The content of those videos wasn’t disclosed.

He was also ordered to remove the false information from YouTube, according to the Tuoi Tre newspaper.

Huy, 41, is a stand-up comedian who participated in the “Vietnam’s Got Talent” TV show and has a YouTube channel – where he is known as Cucumber – that has nearly 900,000 subscribers.

His videos have focused on sensitive issues in society, such as border crossings and the recent attacks on local government facilities in Dak Lak province.

"Cucumber was abducted at around 10 a.m. on August 15 while eating alone,” a family member told Radio Free Asia. “Security forces took him away and then brought him to the station for questioning without giving any documents."

The family member added that he was beaten during his interrogation and wasn’t released until 11 p.m. the same day.

Previously, Huy was summoned to a police station in 2016 to discuss a video he posted that said, “Freedom of speech is different from personal humiliation.” Huy declared in the video that “in Vietnam, there is no freedom of speech.”

Huy’s relative noted that in 2022 he sued the Nhan Dan newspaper in what is considered the first lawsuit filed by an individual against a media outlet aligned with Vietnam’s Communist Party Central Committee.

Huy won the lawsuit against Nhan Dan, which agreed to remove articles critical of him. The relative questioned whether this week’s incident with police was related to the lawsuit.

Ms. Tran Phuong Thao is the spouse of the aforementioned environmental human rights defender, and a woman human rights defender in her own right. Since her husband was arrested in June of 2021, she has been a steadfast advocate for the release of Mr. Dang Dinh Bach and has engaged with UN human rights mechanisms in pursuit of this. Furthermore, in her husband’s absence, Ms. Thao has also played a role in assuming some of work that her husband was engaged in before his incarceration. She has taken up the position of director of the LPSD Group Joint Stock Company, a private business that operates independently of LPSD. Ms. Tran Phuong has reportedly been subjected to administrative and judicial harassment. According to the information received: On 18 January 2023, Ms. Tran Phuong Thao received a phone call from a female civil servant who was contacting her on behalf of the General Department of Civil Judgment Enforcement of Hanoi city. She requested Ms. Tran Phuong Thao to pay them VND 1,381,093,134 ($58,237), a sum corresponding to the amount that her husband, Bach, is alleged to have evaded. The officer informed Ms. Thao that if the money was not repaid, then the department would confiscate property belonging to the family in compensation for this. The call from the officer is reported to have caused Ms. Thao a great deal of stress. In an effort to pay back the amount demanded of her, Ms. Thao contacted her husband’s family, to ask him to help her to sell the family car so that she could repay the money. On 7 March 2023, however, Ms. Thao was subsequently contacted by the same person from the Department of Civil Justice Enforcement informing her of the department’s intention to repossess the family car in question, as well as other property belonging to Mr. Bach’s family, to satisfy the sum that Mr. Bach allegedly owes. She also informed Ms. Thao that she was aware Ms. Thao had tried to receive help in selling her husband’s car, although this was private information not publicly known. Furthermore, when Ms. Thao visited Mr. Bach in prison on 17 March 2023, Mr. Bach told her that an officer from the same department had visited him in prison and had informed him that his bank account had been seized. Additionally, on 8 February 2023, Ms. Thao was once again reportedly subjected to administrative harassment. On this occasion, the Dong Da District Tax Department sent a letter to the Policy of Sustainable Development Research Center (LPSD) Group Joint Stock Company, of which Ms. Thao is now the director, alleging that Mr. Bach had incorrectly declared his personal income tax for the year of 2020. As a penalty for this reported breach in protocol, Ms. Thao was instructed to pay a fine on behalf of the company, amounting to VND 25,000,000 ($1,054). The woman human rights defender was also summoned to report to the tax office. Over the two weeks that followed this incident, another officer from the district tax department called Ms. Thao many times, threatening to refer the matter to the police if the instructions of the letter were not adhered to. Following this, on 10 March 2023, Ms. Thao received another letter which again summoned her to appear before the tax department, Thao complied with this and attended the department on 13 March 2023 where, upon her arrival, she submitted a written response in person. In this letter, she explained that Mr. Bach was unable to pay the fine, owing to the fact that he is still in prison, on account of which his bank accounts have been frozen. She expressed that, should the department wish to pursue this further, they should contact her husband to discuss the matter with him instead, stressing that she was not involved in the tax declarations for the year in question. Ms. Thao has otherwise remarked that, since her husband’s arrest, she has been left unable to manage certain financial matters in relation to their home.

Ms. Tran Phuong Thao is the spouse of the aforementioned environmental human rights defender, and a woman human rights defender in her own right. Since her husband was arrested in June of 2021, she has been a steadfast advocate for the release of Mr. Dang Dinh Bach and has engaged with UN human rights mechanisms in pursuit of this. Furthermore, in her husband’s absence, Ms. Thao has also played a role in assuming some of work that her husband was engaged in before his incarceration. She has taken up the position of director of the LPSD Group Joint Stock Company, a private business that operates independently of LPSD. Ms. Tran Phuong has reportedly been subjected to administrative and judicial harassment. According to the information received: On 18 January 2023, Ms. Tran Phuong Thao received a phone call from a female civil servant who was contacting her on behalf of the General Department of Civil Judgment Enforcement of Hanoi city. She requested Ms. Tran Phuong Thao to pay them VND 1,381,093,134 ($58,237), a sum corresponding to the amount that her husband, Bach, is alleged to have evaded. The officer informed Ms. Thao that if the money was not repaid, then the department would confiscate property belonging to the family in compensation for this. The call from the officer is reported to have caused Ms. Thao a great deal of stress. In an effort to pay back the amount demanded of her, Ms. Thao contacted her husband’s family, to ask him to help her to sell the family car so that she could repay the money. On 7 March 2023, however, Ms. Thao was subsequently contacted by the same person from the Department of Civil Justice Enforcement informing her of the department’s intention to repossess the family car in question, as well as other property belonging to Mr. Bach’s family, to satisfy the sum that Mr. Bach allegedly owes. She also informed Ms. Thao that she was aware Ms. Thao had tried to receive help in selling her husband’s car, although this was private information not publicly known. Furthermore, when Ms. Thao visited Mr. Bach in prison on 17 March 2023, Mr. Bach told her that an officer from the same department had visited him in prison and had informed him that his bank account had been seized. Additionally, on 8 February 2023, Ms. Thao was once again reportedly subjected to administrative harassment. On this occasion, the Dong Da District Tax Department sent a letter to the Policy of Sustainable Development Research Center (LPSD) Group Joint Stock Company, of which Ms. Thao is now the director, alleging that Mr. Bach had incorrectly declared his personal income tax for the year of 2020. As a penalty for this reported breach in protocol, Ms. Thao was instructed to pay a fine on behalf of the company, amounting to VND 25,000,000 ($1,054). The woman human rights defender was also summoned to report to the tax office. Over the two weeks that followed this incident, another officer from the district tax department called Ms. Thao many times, threatening to refer the matter to the police if the instructions of the letter were not adhered to. Following this, on 10 March 2023, Ms. Thao received another letter which again summoned her to appear before the tax department, Thao complied with this and attended the department on 13 March 2023 where, upon her arrival, she submitted a written response in person. In this letter, she explained that Mr. Bach was unable to pay the fine, owing to the fact that he is still in prison, on account of which his bank accounts have been frozen. She expressed that, should the department wish to pursue this further, they should contact her husband to discuss the matter with him instead, stressing that she was not involved in the tax declarations for the year in question. Ms. Thao has otherwise remarked that, since her husband’s arrest, she has been left unable to manage certain financial matters in relation to their home.

Phan Tat Thanh’s family told Project 88 that the police asked him and his brother to come to the police station on July 5 to sign paperwork regarding a traffic accident involving Thanh’s brother. When they arrived, however, both men were detained. Thanh’s brother was later released, but Thanh was kept there for a week against his will. Thanh then managed to escape. Afterwards, his brother and mother reported that they faced threats and intimidation from the police. Thanh was re-apprehended on July 13. On July 15, the police went to search his house without a warrant. His family was told verbally that he was being charged with disseminating “anti-state propaganda” but no warrant was presented.”

Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS), the state police, officially charged Duong Van Thai, a Vietnamese blogger who lived in exile in Thailand, with “distributing anti-State propaganda,” a purported violation of Article 117 in the Penal Code. According to an announcement letter dated July 5 that was sent to Duong Thi Lu, the mother of Thai, the police also extended the detention of the Vietnamese blogger until August 12. The letter said he was detained at MPS Detention Center B14 in Thanh Tri District, Hanoi City.

Lu said the police letter was delivered to her home on July 14, three months after state-sponsored agents allegedly kidnaped Thai.

Duong Van Thai, 41, owned a Youtube channel called “Thái Văn Đường” and specialized in reporting on infighting within the Vietnamese Communist Party. All videos and live streams published on the channel disappeared shortly after he went missing. Thai had been a political refugee in Thailand since early 2019 and was granted refugee status by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangkok in the same year.

On April 13, he was reported missing after leaving his home in Pathum Thani Province, Thailand. Three days later, on April 16, the Ha Tinh Provincial Police in Vietnam said they found a man named Duong Van Thai who “illegally crossed the border to enter Vietnam from Laos.” Vietnamese activists and those close to Thai believed he had been kidnapped by Vietnamese security agents in Bangkok and forcibly transported back to Vietnam.

The alleged abduction of Duong Van Thai worried Vietnamese dissidents and human rights activists living in Thailand, who feared that Vietnam’s security apparatus has become increasingly bold in its repression of foreign-based critics.

In a Facebook posting on July 20, attorney Dang Dinh Manh, a human rights lawyer in the United States, said that the Vietnamese police inadvertently admitted their operations to kidnap Duong Van Thai in their announcement of indicting him.

Manh wrote that according to Vietnam’s criminal procedure law, the limit for the first temporary detention is four months. This coincides with the unconfirmed information that Thai was kidnapped on April 13 in Thailand, while his temporary custody will conclude on August 12. The attorney believes that the Vietnamese police planned the abduction of the blogger in Thailand’s territory in advance.

Moreover, Manh added that the police security investigation agency officially charged Duong Van Thai with violating Article 117 of the Penal Code instead of punishing him for an illegal border crossing, which the Ha Tinh Police initially alleged.

Three members of Vietnam’s Khmer Krom minority group who are suspected of distributing books about indigenous peoples’ rights were arrested on Monday in the Mekong Delta region, authorities told local media.

One of the three men was To Hoang Chuong of Tra Vinh province. Radio Free Asia’s Vietnamese Service reported last month that he was beaten by local policemen in June while visiting a friend in neighboring Soc Trang province.

On June 25, the U.S.-based Union of Khmers Kampuchea Krom issued a statement condemning the Soc Trang Provincial Police for the “brutal and inhuman treatment” of Chuong.

The other two men arrested on Monday were Danh Minh Quang of Soc Trang province and Thach Cuong of Tra Vinh province.

Police in both provinces told local media that local residents reported that the men had been passing out copies of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which states that indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and develop their political, economic and social systems or institutions.

The nearly 1.3-million strong Khmer Krom live in a part of Vietnam that was once southeastern Cambodia. They have faced serious restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly and movement.

The three men have been charged with “abusing democratic freedoms” under Article 331 of the Penal Code, a statute used by Vietnamese authorities to silence those speaking out for human rights.

Homes surrounded

Additionally, Soc Trang provincial authorities arrested two other Khmer Krom activists on Monday and surrounded the home of another two activists, one of the activists told RFA’s Khmer Service.

The siege of the two homes was an attempt by plainclothes police to intimidate, Lim Vong told RFA Khmer.

“I appeal to the United Nations to help stop Vietnamese authorities from excessively abusing the rights of the Khmer Krom people. I have done nothing wrong in Vietnam,” he said.

“I only distributed the United Nations’ textbooks about human rights and the rights to self-determination,” he told RFA. “I neither demand back the territory of Kampuchea Krom nor demand the separation of the Khmer Krom from Vietnam.”

Some activists have also been harassed recently by police for wearing T-shirts that show the Khmer Kampuchea Krom flag, according to Son Chumchoun, secretary general of the Phnom Penh-based Khmer Kampuchea Krom Association for Human Rights and Development.

The Vietnamese government has banned its human rights publications and has tightly controlled the practice of Theravada Buddhism by the group, which sees the religion as a foundation of their distinct culture and ethnic identity.

Last year, seven special U.N. rapporteurs sent a 16-page letter to Vietnam’s government about the country’s alleged failure to recognize the right to self-determination of the Khmer Krom.

A former religious prisoner of conscience in Vietnam has been arrested on an anti-state charge related to his social media activity, just two years after his release from prison following a conviction for “disturbing public order,” local media reported.

Nguyen Hoang Nam, a member of a dissident Hoa Hao Buddhist Church in An Giang province, is accused of posting documents, images, videos and live broadcasts that oppose authorities and undermine the policy of religious and national unity, according to Vietnamese state media, which cited government investigators.

Nam is charged under Article 117 of Vietnam’s penal code, a vaguely written set of rules that rights groups say is Hanoi’s favorite tool for silencing dissenting bloggers and journalists.

The church’s deputy chief secretary, Nguyen Ngoc Tan, told Radio Free Asia that he was shocked by the arrest.

“I don’t see those videos (against the government), but only videos of Hoang Nam doing social charity work.” he said, referring to Nam’s Facebook account.

Nam and his family cook free meals for poor people about twice a month, according to church member Vo Van Buu, who added that Nam also sometimes reposts articles on Facebook written by people who criticize the government.

Previous arrest

Nam was arrested in 2017 on the “disturbing public order” charge while traveling to the house of another church member to join in worship services, sources told RFA at the time. Nam was sentenced the following year to a four-year prison term and was released in 2021.

Vietnam’s government officially recognizes the Hoa Hao religion, which has some 2 million followers across the country, but imposes harsh controls on dissenting Hoa Hao groups – including the sect in An Giang – that do not follow the state-sanctioned branch.

Rights groups say that An Giang authorities routinely harass followers of the unapproved groups, prohibiting public readings of the Hoa Hao founder’s writings and discouraging worshipers from visiting Hoa Hao pagodas in An Giang and other provinces.

Online newspaper Vietnam Plus reported on Friday that An Giang police coordinated with the Ministry of Public Security’s Department of Cybersecurity and High-Tech Crime Prevention and Control in arresting Nam in Chau Doc city on July 24.

Authorities searched his home and seized seven mobile phones, two USB sticks, a laptop, 307 pages of documents and 10 videos allegedly containing “propaganda against the Party and the state,” Vietnam Plus reported.

The arrest is another attack by the Vietnamese government on freedom of speech, as well as freedom of religion and belief, according to Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch.

“By arresting Nguyen Hoang Nam, the government shows how it is doubling down on its campaign to silence outspoken advocates of religious freedom,” he told RFA in an email. “The previous accusations and prosecution of Nguyen Hoang Nam are bogus, and so is this latest arrest.”

Thong Nhat district court, Dong Nai province, sentenced Mr Vuong to 5 years jail in a hearing on 18 April 2023, for abuse democratic freedoms.

He had no legal representation, his family was not notified of the hearing.

He was arrested on 3 Jan 2023. One day after, Thong Nhat district police gave his family a document titled 'Notification about the temporary detention' of Mr Vuong, stating he would be detained for 2 months, but didn't provide the reason.

'That was the only document our family received from local authorities about Vuong's situation', one of Mr Vuong's relatives told RFA Viet 7 Aug, on condition of anonymity.

'At beginning of May [2023], police at temporary detention centre B5, Dong Nai province, rang our family and informed that Vuong was jailed there, and we could visit him,' this relative said.

When they visited him, Mr Vuong told them he had been sentenced to 5 years jail for abuse democratic freedoms in a hearing without legal representation on 18 April.

Facebooker Le Xuan Dieu for two consecutive days was beaten and interrogated by Ho Chi Minh City police for articles criticizing the regime on his personal page.

A relative of Mr. Dieu said that officers from the Security Investigation Agency - Ho Chi Minh City Police are investigating him about two Facebook accounts, Dieu Le and Deo Lu, which are believed to be his.

This person told Radio Free Asia (RFA) on the morning of August 2 on condition of anonymity for security reasons:

Mr. Dieu was taken to the headquarters of the City's Investigation Security Agency on the morning of July 31 by the police after refusing to go to the police station after being summoned three times to work on social media posts. Facebook association.

Four policemen burst into the house and escorted him away without a warrant. The police did not search his house ."

This person said that on the first day, Mr. Dieu was kept at the police station all day and was only able to return home late in the evening, with a dilapidated body and many bruises on his face. The results of medical examination and radiograph showed that he had multiple soft tissue injuries and fractured rib number 4.

During the interrogation of Facebook posts on July 31, Dieu was beaten every 30 minutes by 7-8 policemen, relatives said.

Mr. Dieu, 46, was forced to go to the police station in the morning and afternoon of August 1 to work with the same content, but he was no longer beaten as on the first day.

He was only allowed to return home late in the afternoon, the police did not make any further appointments. Now his phone, social media accounts, and even his bank account have been controlled by security.

Relatives said that now Mr. Dieu was in pain all over his body and had to stay at home to recuperate.

The reporter called Mr. Dieu directly to ask about the case, but he refused to answer the interview because he was very tired after working with the police for two days.

The reporter also called the hotline of the Ho Chi Minh City Police to ask about this case, but the person on the phone refused to provide information, asking the reporter to come to the agency to work with the staff or the leadership of the city police.

Mr. Dieu is one of the active dissidents in Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam. He used to participate in a number of protests against China's infringement on Vietnam's sovereignty over sea and islands in the East Sea.

On Facebook Dieu Le and Deo Lu have many posts criticizing the regime on issues such as human rights violations, systemic corruption, economic mismanagement, ubiquitous environmental pollution, and sovereignty. Many leaders including Ho Chi Minh, the founder of the regime, were also alluded to in many articles.

In recent times, Vietnamese security forces have stepped up online repression. Two activists Phan Tat Thanh and Duong Tuan Ngoc were recently arrested and prosecuted for "conducting propaganda against the state" after many days of being interrogated by the police. Mr. Thanh is said to be the former admin of the Diary of Patriotism and Mr. Ngoc has many articles and videos criticizing the regime and leader Ho Chi Minh on Facebook and Youtube.

On July 31, three Khmer activists, Danh Minh Quang in Soc Trang and Thach Cuong and To Hoang Chuong in Tra Vinh were arrested for allegedly "abusing democratic freedoms" for their rights-claiming activities. local person.

Since the beginning of this year, at least 12 people have been arrested and prosecuted and seven have been sentenced to between five and eight years in prison for either of these crimes, according to RFA statistics.

Many activists in Hanoi told RFA that they were called by city security to work and asked not to write or share articles with "sensitive" content or participate in civic activities, including peaceful protest.

Officer of Prison No. 6 (Thanh Chuong, Nghe An) confiscated the belongings of prisoner of conscience (TNLT) Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, he suspected that he was persecuted for speaking out for justice for himself.

Mr. Thuc, a businessman and information technology engineer is serving the 14th year of a 16-year prison sentence for "activities aimed at overthrowing the government," having his personal medical equipment confiscated by prison guards. after he wrote a response to the Supreme People's Court on Document No. 253 of the same agency .

In this document, the Supreme People's Court affirmed that Mr. Thuc was convicted under Clause 1 of Article 79 of the Criminal Code 1999 "in the case of completed crime, not in the case of preparation to commit a crime under Clause 3 of Article 109. 2015 Penal Code."

Therefore, he is not subject to favorable terms as prescribed in Resolution No. 41 of 2017 of the National Assembly to consider exempting the remaining penalty.

Tran Huynh Duy Tan said his family received information from his brother in an unusual call on July 30. He told Radio Free Asia (RFA) about his brother's recent situation in prison.

" Last July 20, the prison (supervisor) they entered his cell and they took all the things that are very necessary for his daily life such as reading lights, blood pressure monitors, glucose meters . blood vessels, and battery-operated fans .

Those are the things that he desperately needs in the weather (as hot as today-PV) as well as a health check in his current condition i. They asked me to go check it out but I haven't returned it for a whole week . "

According to Mr. Thuc narrated to his family, on July 22, people from the Security Department entered the cell to check all remaining personal belongings. He attributed this to his response to Document 253, and asserted that " this is certainly retaliation for him fighting for that sentence."

The prison also did not allow Mr. Thuc to continue sending letters home as usual.

Reporters on July 31 called Prison No. 6 to verify the information provided by Mr. Thuc's family, but no one answered the phone.

According to the family of this famous prisoner of conscience, he will refuse to visit his family from next month to protest the actions of the warden and prison guards of Detention Center No. Foreign diplomatic missions in Vietnam knew about his discrimination, and he also wanted to meet with the international diplomatic representative to talk about his case.

If not, he will deny the right to call home, the family said. Mr. Thuc also stated that he did not wear the prison uniform provided by the prison, according to the regulations that prisoners would have to wear every time they met their relatives.

Thuc is one of many prisoners of conscience who have attracted the attention of many Western national governments and international human rights organizations since his arrest in 2009.

He went on hunger strike several times in the prison to protest his inhuman treatment and demand his release.

Police in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City have arrested activist Phan Tat Thanh, accusing him for criticizing the government’s response to “Chinese aggression” in the South China Sea, his father told Radio Free Asia.

Thanh, 37, also known as “Black Aaron,” often posted online about the contentious area in the sea where Hanoi, Beijing and others have competing territorial claims.

Netizens told Thanh’s father, who requested anonymity for security reasons, that Thanh had gone missing on July 5.

The police issued a prosecution document on July 13, and on July 15 they searched his home and copied data from his computer.

In 2010, Thanh staged a protest in front of China’s Embassy in Bangkok because anti-China demonstrations in Vietnam by that time were being suppressed.

In addition to anti-China posts, Thanh had written posts and comments about human rights violations, environmental pollution, systematic corruption, and issues of major concern in Vietnam.

A court in Hanoi on July 26 held a trial for Nguyen Son Lo, former director of the Institute of Technology Research and Development (SENA), sentencing him to five years in prison on the combined charges of “abusing democratic freedoms” under Article 331 and “abusing authoritative position and power while on official duty” under Article 356. Vietnam’s state media released the news on the same day of his arrest.

Lo, 75, who ran the independent think tank SENA, received three years of imprisonment for allegedly violating Article 331 and another two years under Article 356. He was arrested on February 2 this year, six months after the police investigation agency charged him under Article 331.

State media reported that SENA was formerly named the Institute of Engineering Research and Urban Development under the management of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA). Lo has been the director of this think tank since it was first established in 1992.

According to state media, the Vietnam People’s Procuracy accused the SENA director of having distributed five documents, consisting of more than 1,000 pages, and three complaints containing content that “infringes upon the interests of the state and the legitimate rights of other organizations and individuals.” Lo is alleged to have composed the documents, designed their cover pages, and then emailed them to the staff of SENA to be printed and sent by post to 529 people. The court did not declare the content of these documents.

The judging panel also announced that the SENA Institute had rented a state-owned building for its headquarters. But since 2005, the Institute has allegedly not paid the rent and not declared the usage of this facility to the government. The panel deemed Lo’s rental of this building illegal. It alleged that the rent “violated the administrative management regulation on housing and land, thus obstructing the state’s right to manage, arrange, and lease this facility.” Nguyen Son Lo’s purported illegal rental of this building led to the alleged violation of the law on “abusing authoritative position and power while on official duty.”

It was reported that in the court, Lo admitted to the alleged activities but said that he did not consider it a violation of the law. Other employees of the SENA Institute were not prosecuted because they “did not know that the documents assigned to them contained illegal content,” according to the investigation agency.

Police of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province requested TMV Thich Vinh Phuoc, abbot of Phuoc Buu temple (Phuoc Thuan village, Xuyen Moc district), not to post articles critical of local authorities and other social issues on Facebook.

The request was given to the abbot in a working session on 13 July at the district police office. Three times the police issued their invitation to the abbot to turn up for working sessions with them, 'about saying things that show sign of violating the law on cyberspace'.

TMV Thich Vinh Phuoc, of the independent Unified Buddhist Church, told RFA Viet on 14 July:

'In the working session, [the police of Ba Ria Vung Tau province and Xuyen Moc district] gave me a document which looks like a written pledge that they wanted me to [agree to], that from now on, I won't write articles and post them on Facebook to criticise this and that. They said I must use my time for religious worshipping, I shouldn't speak up on social issues that affect the nation...'

As a member of Vietnam Interfaith Council - which advocates for religious freedom, TMV Thich Vinh Phuoc said he refused the police request and will continue to exercise his freedom of expression on social media.

'I have the rights as a citizen, I have the right to express by views on absolutely anything, writing of Facebook is my human right.' He said.

He said, like Thien Quang pagoda, Phuoc Buu Temple has also been subject to authorities' harassment, the temple has not been allowed to build a number of construction for worshipping purposes.

Vietnamese authorities have detained a former health teacher Duong Tuan Ngoc for posts he made on social media about education, health, and social issues that criticized the government, police reports and family members said.

Ngoc, 38, was once a nutrition teacher in the southern province of Lam Dong. The Lam Dong police summoned him on July 10, and he was detained the next day, his wife Bui Thanh Diem Ngoc, told Radio Free Asia’s Vietnamese Service.

The police said the detention is for an investigation on charges of anti-state propaganda in connection with videos he posted to Facebook and YouTube.

The exact law he is charged with violating is the vaguely written Article 117, which Amnesty International has described as being “commonly used to suppress legitimate dissent in Vietnam” and “a favored tool of the authorities to arbitrarily imprison journalists, bloggers and others who express views that do not align with the interests of the Communist Party of Vietnam.”

So far this year, at least six other activists, independent journalists and Facebook users have been arrested under Article 117 with prison terms ranging from five years and six months to eight years in prison, according to RFA statistics.

Mrs. Ngoc said her husband was called in on July 10 when police received an anonymous accusation that Mr. Ngoc was selling drug-related products on his Facebook account. At the police station, Mr. Ngoc was asked to admit that an offending account belonged to him.

“He said that he did not do anything wrong,” Mrs. Ngoc said. “The next day, we were asked to appear at the police station again without any stated reason.”

On their second visit, the husband and wife were put in separate rooms for interrogation. Later that night, police searched their house and confiscated phones, laptops, computers and cameras.

Mrs. Ngoc said that she was allowed to keep three of her own phones, and was let go after two days of interrogation, during which she was asked if she had helped her husband edit his online posts.

She has not seen her husband since the 11th, nor has she been allowed to send him clothes or anything else he might need. On Sunday, she received the written police notice of her husband’s emergency detention.

Long list of accusations

Signed by Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thai Thanh on July 15, the notice accused Ngoc of a litany of alleged crimes, including attacking socialism, distorting history, denying revolutionary achievements, slandering the socialist regime, defaming national founder Ho Chi Minh and infringing upon the lawful rights and interests of the state – all in violation of Article 117.

However, the police did not specify which social media posts or videos broke the law, she said.

RFA attempted to contact the Lam Dong police for an explanation, but the person who answered the phone said responses to inquiries could only be given in person.

Mr. Ngoc’s most recent Facebook post, on July 10, praised a lifestyle close to nature in Vietnam’s countryside. His personal page has more than 45,000 followers and has an introductory description declaring, “I have rights as a citizen. You have rights as citizens. Citizens are the rightful owners of the country.”

His YouTube account “Freelance Education” was established in July 2019, and he has around 34,000 followers and hundreds of videos about health, medicine, and life in the countryside.

Ngoc’s wife said that the couple had previously lived in Ho Chi Minh City, southern Vietnam’s economic hub, but they recently moved to Lam Ha in March 2022.

They both graduated from Ho Chi Minh University of Economics and hold master’s degrees.

Mr. Ngoc taught college students online. He has made more than 684 videos and posted thousands of articles on medicine, health, education, economy, and many other social issues.

Prior to Mr. Ngoc’s detention, the couple sold a variety of organic and medicinal agricultural products. Since moving to Lam Ha, they have focused on gardening and producing organic goods, and selling them on social media.

Authorities targeted Mr. Ngoc because he was a champion of raising awareness of human values, an activist from Ho Chi Minh City told RFA on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.

“The teacher aims at human values, truth and liberal education in the clips he makes,” the activist said. “I feel that he only wants to contribute to the community with a correct view about the country's situation. Besides that, I don't see any sense in the charges they put in the detention notice.”

The activist said that in Ngoc’s videos, he never mentioned any specific part of the government or any named person, so the charges don’t make sense.

Le Quoc Quan, a former prisoner of conscience-turned-lawyer, told RFA that she has been following Ngoc’s videos for a long time.

“I am very impressed and have sympathy for Mr. Duong Tuan Ngoc because I think his presentations on social issues are very interesting, humorous, and very true,” she said. “After all, I find that Duong Tuan Ngoc is a talented person, and what he reflects is true and humorous. He deserves to be applauded instead of being arrested.”

Quan said what Ngoc said was true, even if it was sometimes sarcastic and humorous.

She described application of Article 117 as “a net dredging up everything so that anyone can be attributed with slander or libel.”

An online news site operated by a Vietnamese NGO will be suspended for three months as of Friday in accordance with a government decision as the publication focuses on “overcoming and thoroughly correcting shortcomings” to implement a government press directive.

The Ministry of Information and Communications concluded in an inspection report that Zing News, also known as Zing News Online Knowledge magazine, had to stop its online service, though the publication did not cite a specific reason in a notice to its readers on Thursday.

The site, which covers economic, culture and political news in Vietnam, is run by the Vietnam Publishing Association, an entity that does not receive funding from the government or the Vietnamese Communist Party, but still must obey its orders.

Zing’s announcement said it would focus on implementing a prime ministerial decision issued on April 3, 2019, for a master plan on press development and management nationwide through 2025.

The government’s plan states that “the press is a means of information, a tool for propaganda, and a weapon” that is “important ideological fuel” for the party and the state. It also calls for continuous efforts to complete legislation for the government’s management and organization of the media and to eliminate the “overlapping situation” by reducing the number of newspapers.

Though Zing did not state what the shortcomings are, it said it would continue to innovate content to ensure the implementation of the principles and purposes specified in its license and to promote an identity of “prestige information, impressive images” that better serves readers.

Vietnam ranks near the bottom of Reporters Without Borders’ 2023 Press Freedom Index – 178 out of 180 nations – for quashing dissent, controlling the public’s access to social media and prosecuting journalists on contentious charges, such as “distributing anti-state propaganda” and “abusing democratic freedoms.”

As of May 2022, Vietnam had 815 news outlets, including 138 newspapers and 677 magazines, of which 29 operate only in electronic format, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications.

To implement the government’s plan, the online Tri Tri online newspaper (Zing.vn) of the Vietnam Publishing Association converted to an e-magazine model on April 1, 2020.

In 2022, the government suspended publication of two other websites for three months, Vietnam Law newspaper and the e-magazine Vietnam Business and Border Trade Journal.

The ministry determined that Vietnam Law Newspaper had 13 violations and was fined 325 million dong (US$13,720). The other publication, operated under the auspices of the Vietnam Association of Border Traders, was fined 70 million dong (US$2,960) for an administrative violation.

A court in Hanoi on July 7 sentenced Phan Thi Huong Thuy, a lawyer who was a former member of the Hanoi Bar Association, to 12 months in prison on allegations of “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of the State and individuals” under Article 331 of the Penal Code.

Thuy, 64, was prosecuted in September 2022 for allegedly publishing three articles on her social media that allegedly defamed Nguyen Van Chien, the former Chairman of the Hanoi Bar Association and former Vice President of the Vietnam Bar Federation. Thuy told RFA that the prosecution resulted from her earlier accusation that Chien did not have a university degree. Chien, a former Vietnam National Assembly member, considered it an insult.

However, Thuy again stated that she did not intend to insult Chien and that her purpose was to ensure that those elected to the Executive Board of the Hanoi Bar Association must meet the required criteria for a university degree. In October 2020, Chien sent an application to the Internal Political Security Department of the Ministry of Public Security, requesting that they investigate whether Thuy was the owner of the Facebook account “Huong Thuy Phan” where the defaming articles were published.

The authorities later determined that between September 15, 2020, and October 2, 2020, Thuy used the “Huong Thuy Phan” Facebook account to publish eight articles defaming Chien. In addition, Thuy was also ordered to compensate Nguyen Van Chien 9 million dong and pay a court fee of 200,000 dong. According to state media, the defendant, lawyer Phan Thi Huong Thuy, and the victim, lawyer Nguyen Van Chien, were absent during the trial.

Vu Thi Kim Hoang, the wife of Nguyen Thai Hung, a Vietnamese Youtube user, will serve her two-and-a-half-year prison sentence starting on June 1. She was found guilty of "abusing democratic freedoms" under Article 331 of the Penal Code, according to her interview with VOA Vietnamese on May 30. Last November, a court in Dong Nai sentenced Hung, 53, to four years and Hoang, 45, to two and a half years in prison.

Nguyen Thai Hung owned a Youtube channel called “Nói bằng thực TV” (Telling by Truth Television), where he often live-streamed and hosted talk shows discussing social and economic issues in Vietnam. The channel was reportedly established in 2020, gaining nearly 40,000 subscribers. The couple was arrested in January 2021 under Article 331, although Hoang did not directly participate in the live streaming. She was later released on bail.

Hoang publicly announced on her personal Facebook page, Kim Vu, on May 30 that she would be sent to the Tan Phu Detention Center in Dong Nai Province on June 1. Hoang told VOA News that she would be transferred to the B5 Camp of Dong Nai Provincial Prison. “[I] always hope that Vietnam will have freedom of speech,” she added. “That's the priority my husband and I hope for.”

Vietnam on Monday sentenced activist Phan Son Tung to six years in prison for advocating the formation of an opposition to the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam, his lawyer told Radio Free Asia.

Tung, 39, was arrested in August 2022 on anti-state propaganda charges for calling for the formation of the Prosperous Vietnam Party, which would work toward eliminating inequality in political power by removing communist party leadership.

Also related to his charges were his demand for citizens to have the freedom to establish associations and political organizations, and his social media content, which authorities said was “anti-state.”

According to the indictment, Phan Son Tung created and managed three YouTube channels, namely “For a prosperous Vietnam,” Phan Son Tung and Son Tung TV, and a Facebook page under the name David Phan. He had posted around 1,000 video clips on these channels, generating more than 148 million views with 530,000 followers.

The indictment also accused him of creating and disseminating 16 video clips with fabricated and confusion-creating content, six of which contained information promoting psychological warfare. Another 17 pieces of content distorted, slandered or insulted the prestige of organizations or the honor and dignity of individuals.

The indictment also acknowledged that he had been remorseful, cooperative and sincere in his confessions, and had paid a fine of 27 million dong (US$1,149), the total revenue generated from advertising income and from selling merchandise emblazoned with the words “For a Prosperous Vietnam.”

‘Full of social evils’

According to a Facebook post by attorney Le Van Luan, Tung used to work on the Project Management Board of Vietel Real Estate Firm but then moved out to establish his own company.

It was then that he learned that Vietnam is a society “full of social evils,” and he began to advocate for a stronger Vietnam with a “clean government” that is free of corruption, with each person playing their role.

During Monday’s trial, which began at 8:30 a.m. and ended at noon, Tung acknowledged every action he was accused of. But he maintained that none of those were crimes, his lawyer Ngo Anh Tuan told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

"He reaffirmed that his acts were not unlawful and the defense lawyers also proved this,” Tuan said. “However, the prosecutors still stuck with their viewpoint.”

Tuan said he was expecting a shorter sentence because during the trial the prosecution did not demonstrate how his actions deserved a greater sentence. But because he had multiple violations, the judge decided to hand down the minimum sentence proposed by the prosecution, said Tuan.

Tung has become the sixth activist charged with “anti-state” propaganda under Article 117 since January 2023.

Amnesty International has described the law as a means to suppress legitimate dissent and “a favored tool of the authorities to arbitrarily imprison journalists, bloggers and others who express views that do not align with the interests of the communist party.”

Nguyen Lan Thang has chosen to not appeal his conviction for “anti-state propaganda” and has begun serving his five-year sentence, according to his wife. Le Bich Vuong went to visit her husband at the pre-trial detention center on June 15 only to learn that he had been transferred to Thanh Hoa Prison No. 5 earlier that morning. She said Thang decided not to appeal in order to “lessen the pressure on the family” and because “appeals never change the result but only lengthen the time he has to suffer the terrible conditions” at the detention center. Thang also told her that he viewed his prison term as “a long trip away from home about equal to the time he spent in college.”

His wife, Mrs Le Bich Vuong, told RFA Viet 20 June:

'On 15 June I went to Hoa Lo prison (temporary detention centre no. 1, Hanoi) as part of a regular timetable, to send in supplies for him, only then I was told he has been sent to prison 5 (Thanh Hoa province) that morning.'

The fact that he has been sent to prison to serve his 6 years sentence means he has waived his right to appeal. Mrs Vuong said her husband had explained to her his decision:

'First, to reduce the pressure that his family and people outside is subject to; second, appeals in [sensitive] cases like his don't change anything, while conditions in the temporary detention centre is appalling.'

Mrs Vuong added, as Mr Thang didn't plead guilty [for anti-state propaganda under sec 117], he had no hope his sentence will be reduced on appeal. So he accepts the punishment, seeing his imprisonment as a long journey or a new course of study, of similar duration as his past university course.

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.

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 Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) vehemently condemns the brutal and inhumane treatment inflicted upon Khmer-Krom activist Mr. To Hoang Chuong by the police of Soc Trang province. This reprehensible incident took place on June 23, 2023, when Mr. Chuong and his fellow activists from Tra Vinh province visited Mr. Lam Vong, who had endured arrest, detention, and torture by the Soc Trang police before his release on June 20, following 33 hours of unjust captivity.

During their visit to Mr. Vong, they proceeded to meet with another Khmer-Krom activist, Mr. Danh Minh Quang. However, on their way to Mr. Quang's residence, their vehicle was forcefully halted by the police, who subsequently apprehended them and took them into custody at the local police station. Around 1 pm, Mr. To Hoang Chuong was explicitly targeted by the police, triggering a series of regrettable events.

Upon entering the interrogation room, Mr. To Hoang Chuong was immediately subjected to physical abuse. Without any provocation or questioning, one of the officers ruthlessly struck him with a direct blow to his forehead, resulting in significant swelling and excruciating pain. The subsequent interrogation involved multiple officers asking him various questions regarding his advocacy work. Each time Mr. Chuong maintained his innocence and asserted that the distribution of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was not a criminal act, he was met with further violence and menacing threats. He was forced to sign the confession to be released at 6:30 pm after five and half hours of facing interrogation and torture.

This incident starkly illustrates the flagrant use of torture and intimidation by the Vietnamese authorities against individuals advocating for the rights of the Khmer-Krom, the indigenous peoples of the Mekong Delta. Such actions unequivocally violate Vietnam's obligations under the UN Convention against Torture, a treaty that the country has ratified.