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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.

Human rights activist Tran Van Bang, also known as Tran Bang, has reportedly experienced a severe decline in health due to the harsh conditions of his detention at the Bo La Detention Center in Phu Giao District, Binh Duong Province.

Tran Bang, 62, was arrested on March 1, 2022, on charges of spreading "anti-state propaganda" under Article 117 of the Penal Code. In mid-May this year, he received a sentence of eight years in prison and three years of probation for his advocacy of democracy and human rights.

After an unsuccessful appeal in late August, he was transferred to Bo La Prison on Sept. 27, where he faced challenging conditions.

Two days after his transfer to Bo La, Tran Bang's family visited him to provide essential supplies and support. According to a family member's text message to Radio Free Asia (RFA) on Oct. 26, Bang described his living conditions, stating that he was held in a crowded room with 90 other individuals. The tight space, where each person had only 60 cm of width, made it difficult for him to sleep. Moreover, the need to keep the windows open throughout the night in the overcrowded room led to exposure to cold temperatures, resulting in a severe sore throat and sinusitis.

During a subsequent visit on Oct. 17, his family noticed a significant deterioration in Tran Bang's health. They observed that he had lost approximately 10 pounds and appeared visibly older.

Despite Bang's deteriorating health and multiple ailments, the prison authorities did not provide any medical treatment.

Efforts to verify the family's claims by contacting Bo La Prison were unsuccessful.

Tran Bang, a veteran of the border war with China in the early 1980s, is a dedicated human rights activist known for his efforts to protest China's encroachment on Vietnam's territorial waters in the East Sea. He is one of seven activists and freelance journalists convicted of disseminating "anti-state propaganda" in the early part of the year. The remaining individuals include Nguyen Lan Thang, a blogger for RFA, and music lecturer Dang Dang Phuoc.

Before his trial and appeal, various international organizations, including Human Rights Watch, called for his immediate release, arguing that he was exercising his right to freedom of speech as stipulated in the Vietnamese Constitution and international human rights conventions that Vietnam has signed.

Authorities in Vietnam on Tuesday sentenced a Facebook user to three and a half years in prison for his live-streamed videos that were critical of the government, state media reported.

Le Thach Giang, 66, of the southern coastal province of Ninh Thuan, was found guilty of violating Article 331 of Vietnam’s penal code for “abusing democratic freedoms to violate the State’s interests, legitimate rights and interests of organizations and individuals.”

Rights groups have said that Article 331 is a vaguely written law that is often used by the government to silence dissenting voices and repress the people.

According to the indictment, between Aug. 29 and Nov. 25, 2022, Giang had livestreamed several videos containing information about local authorities in Ninh Thuan on his Facebook account, which was titled “The Brutal Authorities.” He also criticized the Communist Party of Vietnam and late president and revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh.

The videos were allegedly unverified, slanderous and offensive to government agencies and defamatory to the Communist Party of Vietnam and the late president.

State media also said that Giang had been previously sentenced to another three and a half years for “intentionally damaging assets” and “disrupting public order,” but did not specify what these charges were for or when he was sentenced.

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.

Police in Vietnam have released four independent Protestants who were detained for five days after inviting President Vo Van Thuong to observe one of their religious services.

Y Nuer Buon Dap, Y Thinh Nie, Y Cung Nie and his son Y Salemon Eban returned home on Saturday.

The first three were arrested on Oct. 31 and taken to the headquarters of Cu M'gar District Police. Another man, Y Phuc Nie, was arrested the same day, but he was released on Nov. 2.

Y Salemon Eban was arrested on Nov. 3 while his mother, H Tuyen Eban was interrogated by district police on Nov. 2.

“The police forced us to work all day, from 7:30 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. before going to bed, but we were not beaten. We were well fed during the days of our arrest," one of the arrested men told Radio Free Asia, asking to remain anonymous for legal reasons.

He said the police questioned them about their views on religious freedom and civil society.

Before releasing the Protestants, the police told them to stop practicing religion independently and not to study civil society, saying its aim was to oppose the government.

They were also told not to participate in the Aug. 22 International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief and the Dec. 10 International Human Rights Day.

“We cannot accept restrictions on the exercise of freedom of religion and freedom of movement . We will continue to practice religion in our family,” said one of the Protestants.

“What 's wrong with studying civil society? We study according to Vietnamese law and international law and have no intention of opposing the government.”

RFA Vietnamese called Cu M'gar District Police to verify the information, but the person who answered asked the reporter to go to the agency's headquarters and speak to the person in charge.

Many Montagnard families in Dak Lak and some provinces in the Central Highlands follow Protestantism but are not in a state-approved religious organization.

They have no leaders, no organizational structure, everyone in the group has equal rights and equality with each other. Pastors are just trusted representatives of their group.

Since the beginning of 2023, independent Protestant groups have sent four invitations to local authorities and President Vo Van Thuong to attend religious activities to prove that they have no intention of opposing state-approved religions or the government.

Tran Huynh Duy Thuc’s lawyer was not allowed to see him during his family’s visit to him on Oct. 3. The family said that Thuc’s health has worsened and that he looked gaunt and fatigued. They said further that he reported that he was not allowed to have his monthly call to his family in September because prison officials did not want him to “complain and accuse” them of wrongdoings. Thuc and his fellow inmates have stopped eating prison food to demand fairer food rationing for the entire unit A. Thuc has not been able to buy food at the canteen since Sept. 14, and he’s had to ask his cellmates to buy food for him. He’s no longer given hot water to make ramen, so he has to use cold water. Thuc has resorted to picking and eating wild vegetation to supplement his diet. The prison authorities have confiscated Thuc’s razor and nail clipper without any explanation.

Vietnamese authorities recently prevented Ms. Ngo Thi Oanh Phuong from leaving the country. She is widely known on social networks through her Facebook account named Phuong Ngo because she often speaks out against many social issues and has enthusiastically fought against negativity for many years.

According to VOA's own source, Tan Son Nhat International Airport Border Gate Police did not let Ms. Phuong leave the country early on the morning of October 5 after she had a boarding pass to fly from Ho Chi Minh City to Ho Chi Minh City. Narita airport of the Japanese capital.

Two representatives of the border police and a representative of Japan Airlines made a record of "temporary exit" for Ms. Phuong, the source said. The minutes that VOA saw read that she was not allowed to leave Vietnam "for national defense and security reasons" based on an article in the law on the entry and exit of Vietnamese citizens issued in 2019. 2019.

The minutes did not say in more detail why Ms. Phuong was not allowed to leave the country. VOA tried to contact Ms. Phuong and the relevant police agency to learn more but could not connect.

Ms. Phuong, 42 years old, permanently residing in Ho Chi Minh City, has been famous on social networks for many years due to her active criticism, fight against injustice and many volunteer activities, of which she especially stands out. combat road toll booths located in unreasonable locations and provide relief to those in need due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to VOA's research, Article No. 36 of Vietnam's 2019 law on entry and exit sets out regulations on 9 cases of temporary exit, including "people whom the authorities have grounds to believe that the Their exit affects national defense and security" stated in section 9.

Other cases temporarily banned from leaving the country are suspects and defendants; People involved in prison sentences are on probation; person with civil court obligations ; person who must fulfill tax obligations, etc.

Before the case of Ms. Ngo Thi Oanh Phuong, the Vietnamese government banned many other activists, activists, dissidents and critics from leaving the country such as Dr. Nguyen Quang A and lawyer Vo An Don. , Cao Dai follower Nguyen Xuan Mai, Protestant follower Doctor Eban, priest Truong Hoang Vu.

A court in Vietnam’s Gia Lai province sentenced a Christian to eight years in prison and three years probation for “undermining the unity policy” under Article 116 of the criminal code.

The Gia Lai online newspaper said that Rian Thih’s trial on Sept. 28 lasted for several hours and the defendant, also known as Ama Philip, “honestly testified and admitted the crime.” The newspaper did not specify whether he had a defense lawyer.

Vietnam often uses the allegation of undermining the solidarity policy to suppress activists for religious freedom in ethnic minority communities in the Central Highlands or the northern mountainous areas, according to an activist on religious freedom speaking to Radio Free Asia on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“The targets of repression are religious leaders of unregistered independent religious groups, often in contact with civil society organizations abroad or international human rights organizations to report violations of religious freedom in the country,” the activist said.

“Such people are often persecuted under Article 116 with heavy sentences of up to 20 years in prison, or at least convicted under Article 331 – abusing democratic freedoms – with a sentence of four to five years in prison.”

The activist said in the Central Highlands there are many Protestant groups registered with the state and with legal status. Many of them have committed actions that, according to the activist, “caused division between ethnicities and between religions” but they were not charged with undermining the unity policy.

Vu Quoc Dung, executive director of the human rights organization VETO! The Human Rights Defenders Network, based in Germany, told RFA via text:

“In some previous cases of ethnic minorities engaging in religious activities that we know well, the fact that they were convicted of ‘undermining the policy of national unity’ only shows that they follow independent religious organizations and refuse to join a state-recognized organization. In a few other cases, the government accused the victims of abandoning tradition or not respecting local customs.

“Accusing them of undermining the policy of national unity violates the right to freedom of religious practice under Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the right to observe and practice their own religion of minority groups according to Article 27 of the ICCPR, to which Vietnam is a party.”

Rlan Thih, 43, was arrested on Dec. 19, 2022. According to the indictment, from 2008 until his arrest, Rlan Thih was directed by FULRO (the United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races) exiles abroad to secretly persuade ethnic minorities in Ia Glai commune to join a meeting group that was a variation of “Dega Protestantism,” with a plot to establish a “separate state for ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands.”

The Vietnamese government says that Christians who belong to unregistered house churches outside the control of the official Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam are “Dega Protestants,” which authorities allege is not a legitimate religious group but a cover for a Montagnard independence movement.

Montagnards are a mainly Christian indigenous minority from the Central Highland provinces who are pressing for religious freedom and land rights. The government now claims there are no Montagnards in the Central Highlands.

The Gia Lai newspaper said that Rlan Thih participated in violent protests in Gia Lai in 2001 and 2004 and “remained stubborn, refusing to stop trying to sabotage the party and state, affecting national unity and local security” but did not specify what these acts were.

Rlan Thih is one of many religious freedom activists in the Central Highlands who was arrested recently.

In April, authorities in Dak Lak arrested preacher Y Krec Ba of the Central Highlands Evangelical Church of Christ on charges of “undermining the unity policy.” A month later, Nay Y Blang was arrested on charges of “abusing democratic freedoms.”

According to RFA statistics, there are currently nearly 60 ethnic minorities imprisoned on charges of “undermining the solidarity policy” with sentences ranging from four to 20 years.

Vietnamese human rights lawyer Vo An Don and his family were stopped by police in Ho Chi Minh City this week from boarding a flight to New York, where they had hoped to apply for political asylum in the US, the well-known rights lawyer told RFA on Wednesday.

Don and other family members were barred from leaving Vietnam by police at Tan Son Nhat Airport at around 9:42 p.m. on Sept. 27, Don said, calling the action taken against him by authorities arbitrary and vindictive.

Don added that airport police told him he would need to contact immigration authorities in his home province of Phu Yen, on Vietnam’s south-central coast, for an explanation of the order barring his travel overseas.

He and his family were now on their way back to Phu Yen, Don said.

“I’ll work with the Phu Yen police tomorrow to find out why my departure was temporarily suspended,” Don said, saying that airport police had cited “security reasons” for blocking his departure in accordance with Article 36 of the Law on Entry and Exit for Vietnamese citizens.

According to Vietnamese law, citizens of the country have the right to travel domestically and overseas, Don said. “I’ll take legal action against them and file a request for compensation if they fail to give legitimate reasons for what they did,” he added.

“In the past, I used to work as a defense lawyer for ordinary, common people,” said Don, whose license to practice law was revoked in 2017 after he successfully defended the right to benefits of the surviving family members of a person who died in police custody.

“Since then I have only stayed at home and worked as a farmer. I have not been involved in any other cases or broken the law, and there is therefore no reason to say that I have been a threat to national security,” he said.

Don said he and his family had decided to seek asylum in the US because they were suffering harassment by Phu Yen authorities and economic hardship since he could no longer work as a lawyer.

The Washington-based International Organization for Migration (IOM) had secured advance funding for the family’s airfare, which was returned to the IOM when the family could no longer fly.

Don had taken his children out of school and given away many of his family’s belongings before trying to leave, and now has to buy many household appliances again, he said. He hopes his children’s schools will now allow them to return to class, he added.

'Prestige of the Party'

Requests for comment sent to the US Embassy, IOM offices in Vietnam and the Vietnam Immigration Department received no responses this week.

A Sept. 28 article in the Ministry of Public Security’s Public Security Newsletter said however that Don during his work as a lawyer had “damaged the prestige” of the ruling Vietnamese Communist Party and government by posting stories on social media and speaking to members of the foreign press.

Speaking to RFA, Truong Minh Tam — a Vietnamese lawyer and human rights activist now living in Illinois — said that Phu Yen police had abused their authority by ordering the suspension of Don’s right to travel abroad.

“According to Article 37 of the Law on Exit and Entry of Vietnamese Citizens, only the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Public Security have that authority,” Tam said.

Also speaking to RFA, Vietnamese musician and political observer Tuan Khanh noted that Don had successfully brought a suit in 2014 against five Phu Yen police officers who caused the death of a citizen, Ngo Thanh Kieu, held in their custody.

This had likely made Don a target for provincial authorities’ revenge, Khanh said.

In a statement issued late on Wednesday, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for New York-based Human Rights Watch said that the Vietnamese government's efforts to block Don's travel to the U.S. are yet another example of how it restricts the freedom of movement of activists based on what he called "vague claims" of national security.

"The reality is Hanoi doesn’t want Vo An Don traveling overseas where he could speak freely about the litany of harassment, discrimination and abuse he’s suffered because of his choices to represent politically sensitive clients in Vietnam’s kangaroo courts,” Robertson said.

“Vietnam has forced Vo An Don to run a gauntlet of constant abuses, including harassment, threats, and legal retaliation ... This travel ban against Vo An Don and his family shows how the Vietnam government is prepared to use every dirty, abusive trick to silence the very few lawyers left in the country who dare stand up for the principle that everyone deserves legal representation.”

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.

In an appeal that only lasted two hours, the High People’s Court in Vietnam’s Dak Lak province on Tuesday upheld an eight-year prison sentence for music lecturer Dang Dang Phuoc, his wife Le Thi Ha told Radio Free Asia.

The 61-year-old instructor at Dak Lak College of Pedagogy was convicted on June 6 this year of "making, storing, spreading or propagating information, documents and items aimed at opposing the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”

He was prosecuted under the penal code’s controversial Article 117, which rights groups say is frequently used to suppress free speech.

Police arrested him on Sept. 8 last year after he posted on Facebook in support of activist Bui Tuan Lam, known as “Onion Bae.”

His wife was also questioned about songs he sang and posted on social media, including one by a former political prisoner and another with lyrics about the problems faced by Vietnam under the Communist Party.

Speaking to RFA Vietnamese on Tuesday Le Thi Ha called the appeal a sham.

"There is nothing different from the first-instance hearing,” she said.

“The examiners of the province’s Department of Information and Communication continued to be absent while the court panel did not respect the defenses of my husband and his lawyers."

Ha said her husband planned to appeal to a higher court.

Under Vietnamese law, Phuoc has the right to appeal to the Supreme People's Court. However, in most political cases, the decision of the regional high court is usually the final word.

Over the past 10 years Phuoc campaigned against corruption and for better protection for civil and political rights. He signed pro-democracy petitions and called for changes to Vietnam’s constitution, which grants the Communist Party a monopoly on power.

“Dang Dang Phuoc shouldn’t be in prison for simply calling for better treatment and justice for the poor and vulnerable Vietnamese, and demanding the government provide better social services and a cleaner environment for all,” said Human Rights Watch Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson, ahead of the appeal.

“If the Vietnamese government cared at all about the welfare of the people, they would be listening to principled activists like Dang Dang Phuoc, not imprisoning him.”

According to RFA statistics, Phuoc is the 11th activist convicted this year and the sixth person convicted of "propaganda against the state" under Article 117.

Many countries have called on Vietnam to amend or remove Article 117 from the penal code to be compatible with international human rights conventions that Vietnam has signed.

A 60-year old Vietnamese activist was sentenced to six years in prison for making a short drunken tirade video that cursed the Communist Party and revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh, the country’s first leader, his lawyer told Radio Free Asia.

The Hanoi People’s Court handed down the punishment Friday to Nguyen Minh Son, saying that the video he made on Dec. 31, 2021, was “anti-state propaganda.”

In the live-streamed video, Son stood outside the same court, reacting the trial of activist and citizen journalist Le Trong Hung, who that day had gotten five years for violating Article 117, a vaguely-written law that is frequently used by authorities to stifle peaceful critics of the country’s one-party communist government.

Almost 10 months later, Son found himself under arrest under the same charge.

His lawyer, Ngo Anh Tuan, said that Son was drunk at the time and admitted that he had acknowledged making mistakes.

“Mr. Son admitted all his acts, saying that he had made mistakes,” Tuan told RFA Vietnamese. “He was accused of making a video clip, only one clip, which he live-streamed and disseminated online.”

Tuan said the jail term was too harsh considering that his client had only made one video.

He said that he had tried to help lower the penalty for his client by requesting the judging panel to look at his case from another angle, but his request was rejected.

“I presented my analysis and judgment, recommending that his act be handled in a more appropriate way, and it could be an administrative penalty,” Tuan said.

Pleading for mercy

Son had been an active participant in many demonstrations in Hanoi between 2011 and 2018 over issues ranging from China’s claims to territories in the South China Sea, to the Hanoi city government cutting down ancient trees located downtown. He also frequently expressed his views on Vietnam’s social issues using his Facebook account.

According to Son’s friend, his arrest on Sept. 28, 2022, was surprising because so much time had passed since he had been involved in any protests.

When Son was allowed to say a few words at the end of the trial, he apologized, expressing his regret and requesting for a penalty mitigation, Tuan said, adding that he was not sure whether Son would make an appeal or not.

Son’s wife Nguyen Thi Phuoc told RFA that she was prevented from attending the trial. Security guards would not allow her to enter the courtroom until nearly noon after the trial had ended, she said. She only saw her husband the moment the police were escorting him to leave the courtroom.

No freedom of speech

Vietnam is a one-party Communist state that clamps down harshly on those who criticize the government.

In another similar case, police on Friday in the southern province of Binh Duong detained Tran Dac Than on charges of using his social media accounts to create posts and share articles that “abused democratic freedoms to violate the state’s interests or the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and individuals,” in violation of Article 331 of Vietnam’s penal code.

Rights groups have said that Article 331, like Article 117, is often employed by the government to silence dissenting voices and repress the people.

According to state media reports that cited the police, the government had summoned Than to warn him about similar acts in 2013.

Vietnam has arrested at least 18 people and convicted nine for violating Article 331 since January this year, according to RFA’s statistics.

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.

Le Thi Thap, the wife of Luu Van Vinh, told Project 88 that she was summoned by police from Binh Tan District in HCMC to appear for questioning on Sept. 8.. When she appeared, she was advised to persuade her husband to plead guilty in order for him to be released early. Then they asked her whether any representatives from the U.S. consulate had visited her husband and if she had signed any petition letter to the president of the United States. She answered that since her husband was in jail, they should know whether or not anyone had visited him. They also told her that if her family had a desire to emigrate to the United States, they would help her fill out the paperwork. She just told them to give her the forms. After that, she was allowed to go home safely. Vinh was arrested in 2016 and is serving a 15-year sentence for “attempted subversion” for belonging to the group Vietnam National Self-Determination Coalition.

Prisoner of conscience Bui Tuan Lam, known as ‘Onion Bae,’ is being punished after unsuccessfully appealing his five year sentence, his wife told Radio Free Asia.

Lam was convicted of spreading ‘propaganda against the state’ and his sentence was upheld in an appeal last month.

His wife, Le Thanh Lam, told RFA Vietnamese that when she visited Lam last week, detention center officials told her all family meetings must be supervised and would therefore take time to arrange.

However, following multiple calls to arrange a visit, his wife was told family visits had been suspended because Lam was being disciplined.

“I asked them why my husband was disciplined, how long he would be disciplined and when my family would be able to see him again,” she said.

“They did not provide any more information.”

RFA called a police officer named Phong at the Da Nang detention center where Lam is being held. He refused to answer any questions.

“I’m very worried and confused,” his wife said.

“I don’t know whether he will be shackled and what the punishment will be like.

This is the second disciplinary action since the trial. In just a few months he was disciplined twice [and made to wear] leg shackles.”

Ms Lam said the family had no information about her husband’s health because he was denied access to lawyers before his appeal.

Lawyer Le Dinh Viet told her that during the appeal hearing the court denied him any form of communication with his client, even eye contact.

Lam is one of dozens of activists imprisoned on charges of ‘anti-state propaganda’ in recent years. Few of the other prisoners have been disciplined and denied family visits.

Lam, 39, campaigned for human rights in Vietnam at the U.N. headquarters in Geneva in 2014. He is a member of the No-U movement, which challenges China’s ‘Nine Dash Line’ territorial claims in the South China Sea.

He earned the nickname ‘Onion Bae’ after posting a video mocking Minister of Public Security To Lam, who ate a US$1,800 steak at a restaurant owned by celebrity chef ‘Salt Bae.’

In Lam’s video, which went viral, he copies the chef’s gesture of dramatically sprinkling salt, instead sprinkling spring onions on a bowl of noodles.

Before his trial and appeal, Human Rights Watch called for all charges to be dropped and Lam’s immediate release.

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.