Vietnamese-American activists call for US to pressure Vietnam on human rights

The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 29, 2007


WASHINGTON: Four Vietnamese-American activists urged U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday to increase pressure on Vietnam to respect human rights and said the United States should support openly democratic forces working to bring change to Hanoi.

The White House meeting was meant to send a message of disapproval to Vietnam on its increasingly harsh treatment of anti-government activists.

Diem Do, chairman of the Vietnam Reform Party, said that during the 45-minute visit, Bush expressed his concern about the crackdown against peaceful dissidents and asked for specific suggestions on what was needed to help improve human rights in Vietnam.

Do said in an interview that he hoped the meeting would result in action by the U.S. government and a clear message for the regime in Hanoi: "That if Vietnam wants to join the international community, they must abide by the rules of civilized governments. They are behaving like a rogue government. They just can't clamp down on peaceful voices."

Last year, as Vietnam prepared to host a Pacific Rim summit and stood on the threshold of joining the World Trade Organization, the regime appeared to have taken a new path toward a more open society. Now, authorities have stepped up their campaign to suppress dissent.

Vietnam does not tolerate any challenge to Communist one-party rule; it insists, however, that only lawbreakers are jailed.

Another of Bush's guests, Cong Thanh Do, founding member of the People's Democratic Party of Vietnam, has been associated with three activists sentenced recently for spreading anti-Vietnamese propaganda over the Internet.

They were among six people convicted and sentenced to prison in the government's latest crackdown. One of those convicted was charged with trying to organize anti-government demonstrations during a visit by Bush to the Pacific summit in Hanoi last year.

"The United States has been concerned by the increasing incidence of arrest and detention of political activists in Vietnam for activities well within their right to peaceful expression of political thought," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said of the meeting.

"As Vietnam's economy and society reform and move forward, such repression of individuals for their views is anachronistic and out of keeping with Vietnam's desire to prosper, modernize and take a more prominent role in world affairs."

In another development, the Democratic chairman of the U.S.-Vietnam Caucus in Congress resigned Friday and introduced a resolution condemning the convictions of pro-democracy activists.

"I have been a consistent friend to Vietnam, but I cannot compromise my support for human rights," Rep. Earl Blumenauer said. "While I have always argued that we need to judge Vietnam on the progress it makes, it is clear to me that the Vietnamese government is headed in the wrong direction on democracy and human rights."

Bush meets Vietnamese-American opponents of Hanoi government

2007-05-29

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. President George W. Bush was meeting Monday with four Vietnamese-American opponents of Vietnam's communist government in a show of disapproval of Hanoi's increasingly harsh treatment of anti-government activists.

In announcing the visits, National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the meeting was «to discuss the best way the international community can support efforts to promote greater freedom and openness in Vietnam.»

Vietnam appeared to have taken a new path toward a more open society as it worked toward acceptance as a member of the World Trade Organization last year. After a new government came to power a year ago, the screws began tightening. The main crackdown began leading up to a Pacific Rim summit late last year hosted by Hanoi.

One of Bush's guests, Cong Thanh Do, founding member of the People's Democratic Party of Vietnam, has been associated with three activists sentenced two weeks ago on conviction of spreading anti-Vietnamese propaganda over the Internet.

They were accused of violating Article 88 of Vietnam's criminal code, which broadly prohibits disseminating information harmful to the state. Vietnamese prosecutors say the three used the Internet to spread their ideas.

The three were among six people convicted and sentenced to prison in the Vietnamese government's latest crackdown on dissent. One of those convicted was charged with trying to organize anti-government demonstrations during a visit by Bush to Hanoi last year.

In addition to Cong Thanh Do, Bush was meeting with Diem Do, chairman of the Vietnam Reform Party; Nguyen Le Minh, chairman of the Vietnam Human Rights Network; and Dr. Quan Nguyen, chairman of the International Committee for Freedom to Support the Nonviolent Movement for Human Rights in Vietnam.

«The United States has been concerned by the increasing incidence of arrest and detention of political activists in Vietnam for activities well within their right to peaceful expression of political thought,» Johndroe said.

«As Vietnam's economy and society reform and move forward, such repression of individuals for their views is anachronistic and out of keeping with Vietnam's desire to prosper, modernize and take a more prominent role in world affairs.»

In another development, the Democratic chairman of the U.S.-Vietnam Caucus in Congress resigned Friday and introduced a resolution condemning the convictions of pro-democracy activists.

«I have been a consistent friend to Vietnam, but I cannot compromise my support for human rights,» Rep. Earl Blumenauer said. «While I have always argued that we need to judge Vietnam on the progress it makes, it is clear to me that the Vietnamese government is headed in the wrong direction on democracy and human rights.»

NEWS ALERT: Vietnam Police Kill Christian Prisoners And Relatives, Investigators Say

HANOI, VIETNAM (BosNewsLife)-- Vietnamese security forces have tortured and killed at least two Christian Degar Montagnards in Vietnam's Central Highlands in recent months and allegedly murdered relatives of religious prisoners, representatives said Monday, May 28.


The US-based advocacy group Montagnard Foundation Incorporated (MFI), which has contacts in the region, told BosNewsLife that one of the Christian Degar Montagnard prisoners, 43-year-old Rahlan Lua from the village of Bon Toat in Gialai province, died last month, April 10. He died "from the effects of torture and maltreatment he received in prison," MFI stressed.

A fellow believer, 53-year-old Y-Kuo Nie, from Buon Cu Mil village in the province of Daklak died the previous month, March 18, "after he was released from prison," and apparently tortured, the group added.

Lua had been sentenced to several prisons since his first arrest in December 2001, on charges related to what MFI described as "his involvement in a peaceful demonstration calling for religious freedom and land rights," earlier that year.

TORTURED AGAIN

He was released in July 2005 but "re-arrested, tortured again and sent to the prison facility in the province of Tuy Hoa" several months later in November, MFI said.

Lua's health reportedly started to deteriorate before he was released this year in February, but he eventually died April 10, 2007. "His village reports that the Vietnamese security police arrested and tortured him the second time to make sure that he would certainly die when he gets home," MFI claimed. He was buried on April 12, but it apparently took time before information of his death could reach the international community.

Y-Kuo Nie had a similar experience since February 2001, when he was first "arrested, tortured and sent to the prison facility in Ha Nam province" for supporting a peaceful demonstration demanding religious freedom and land rights that year, according to MFI investigators.

"Due to the severity and repeated torture he endured the Vietnamese security police knew he was going to die, so, the police called his wife to go pick up her [dead] husband from Ha Nam prison," MFI claimed. However, Y-Kuo’s wife, H’Long Buonya, "was so poor and could not afford to travel to Han Nam even though she so wanted to," MFI said. Vietnamese security police reportedly brought her husband home to his village on March 17, 2007, for burial.

RELATIVES KILLED

Their deaths came amid reports that some relatives of Christian prisoners have been killed. In one of the latest incidents in March, two female relatives of Degar Montagnard Christian and political prisoners and their driver were killed in March in a "suspicious" car accident after returning from "the notorious Vietnamese prison in the province of Ha Nam" to visit their loved ones, MFI claimed.

The killed women, H’Powel Eban, 35, and H’Wot Buonkrong, 45, were apparently part of a group of 12 relatives who were attempting to visit the prisoners. H'Powel Eban was killed after she visited her jailed husband Y-Yuan Buonya and now leaves behind him and four young children, MFI said. It was not immediately clear what would happen with the children who are 14, 10, 6 and 4 year old.

H’Wot Buonkrong died after visiting her jailed brother Y-Hoang Buonkrong in the same prison
facility, MFI explained. The driver's name was not immediately known.

They were killed on their way back home when a large army truck coming from the opposite direction swerved in their direction towards their van, MFI quoted eyewitnesses as saying.

FORCED COLLISION

"The van driver tried to avoid the collision but was unable to escape. The truck crashed into them, [forcing] their van off the road, killing the driver and the two women who were sitting next to the driver," MFI said. Nearly all other passengers were reportedly seriously injured.

Vietnamese officials have not reacted to the latest claims, however in previous statements the government has strongly denied human rights abuses. There are an estimated 350, predominantly Christian, Degar Montagnards, an ethnic group, in prisons across in Communist-run Vietnam and many other jailed dissidents and Christian believers, human rights groups claim.

MFI and other organizations have linked the crackdown to concern among Communist authorities about the spread of Christianity outside the government controlled churches and growing demands that economic reforms accompany democratic changes. There has also been frustration about the support given by Degar Montagnard forces to American troops during the Vietnam War.

Human rights groups have alleged that the Vietnamese government tries to suppress information about the alleged human rights abuses. This month Vietnam reportedly pressured the United Nations to ban the screening of two films made by an independent film maker during UN events about indigenous people in New York.

BANNED DOCUMENTARIES

The Khmer Krom Federation was to screen last week "Eliminated Without Bleeding," a documentary about Khmer Krom people in Vietnam and Khmer Krom refugees in Cambodia and Thailand explaining their human rights situation. The film continued on Internet website
http://khmerkrom.org/eng/?q=node/131.

Another group, The Hmong Lao Human Rights Council, and Earth Peoples, were to show "Hunted Like Animals," at a UN site event. The document, now shown via website http://www.rebeccasommer.org/documentaries/Hmong/index.php, shows traumatized Hmong Lao refugees in Thailand, explaining what happened to them while living in hiding and allegedly running from constant military attacks by Vietnamese and Laotian forces.

Rebecca Sommer, the filmmaker of both films, said she had asked Vietnam's UN representative to view the films. "We believe in dialogue" so he can "evaluate the situation from the perspective of the affected Hmong Lao people, who say that military officials are actually involved in military aggressions..." (With BosNewsLife News Center and reports from New York and Vietnam's Central Highland).

Internet Is ‘New Frontline’ In War For Human Rights

LONDON –The Internet is the new frontline in the war for human rights, as governments battle to stamp out online opposition voices, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

In an age of technology, the Internet has become the new frontier in the struggle for the right to dissent,” said Amnesty International chief Irene Khan, in the foreword to the rights group’s latest annual report.

Specifically, she said that governments in Belarus, China, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia are “monitoring chat rooms, deleting blogs, restricting search engines, and blocking Web sites” with the help of major world IT firms.

In addition, “people have been imprisoned in China, Egypt, Syria, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam for posting and sharing information online.”

But the group vowed not to back down: “Everyone has the right to seek and receive information and to express their peaceful beliefs without fear or interference.”

In China, access has been blocked to several hundred international Web sites, while thousands of Chinese sites have been closed down, Amnesty said, citing a Tibetan blog shut down after having questioned Beijing’s role in Tibet.

Bloggers have been sentenced to jail terms and to beatings in Iran, where access to the Internet is increasingly strictly controlled, it said.

It accuses Vietnam of seeking to strengthen its control of the Internet via new rules, by getting managers of Internet cafes and service providers to watch users and by filtering or blocking certain Web sites.

It cited the example of Bloc 8406 in Vietnam, an Internet-based pro-democracy movement whose backers faced harassment, restrictions on movement, and confiscation of computers.

In the Gulf state of Bahrain, seven Web sites were banned in October, while in Myanmar the government has blocked numerous sites, as is the case in Syria where access has been stopped to dozens of Web sites, Amnesty said.

Fight for the right to choose in Vietnam

By Diem H Do

For many months, the ruling Communist Party in Vietnam had been promoting the National Assembly election that was held on Sunday as a sign that the Southeast Asian country is opening up quickly. With up to 10% of the 500 seats offered to non-communist candidates, the one-party dictatorship tried hard to bill this election as a sign of gradual democratic reform.

Notably, this was not the first time the party had offered seats in the legislature to independent candidates. However, the real trick was in the selection process for these independent candidates by the Communist Party. Although technically anybody could run, candidates first had to be selected before they even had the chance to be on the ballot. This selection process was controlled entirely by the Communist Party. Thus the party in essence decided from the start who could run or should be eliminated.

Once candidates were selected to be on the ballot, whether they won or not was a different matter, because the party controlled the entire balloting process. Since elections in Vietnam have never been independently monitored, election officials and workers are overwhelmingly Communist Party members. And because there are no opposition parties providing the necessary checks and balances, the ruling party was completely free to decide unilaterally the outcome of this election.

It will be days before the "official" results are known. But even with 10% of the 500-seat National Assembly consisting of so-called "independent" members, with 90% of the legislature under communist control, calling this democratic reform is a farce. For months, the democracy movement in Vietnam called for a boycott of this election. The Communist Party retaliated by launching the worst crackdown in the past 20 years against peaceful dissent.

One after another, democracy activists were sentenced to years in prison simply because they advocated giving people the right to choose freely and fairly. It is a mockery of justice when a dozen activists are sent to prison on fabricated charges of "spreading propaganda against the government". Others are still awaiting trial, accused of "plotting to overthrow the government", a charge that carries the maximum penalty of death.

All of this comes at a time when the Vietnamese communist government has been embraced by the international community as the guiding force behind a fast-growing and stable economy. But the world must not forget that this is a regime that is extremely corrupt and does not truly represent the Vietnamese people. The regime stays in power by terrorizing its own citizens and through fraudulent elections like the one on Sunday in which it farcically claimed a 99% turnout.

For many years, the Vietnamese democracy movement has waged a grassroots and peaceful campaign to end the Communist Party dictatorship. The goal is simply to give the Vietnamese people a chance to choose their own government freely and fairly.

It is easy for the world to get caught up in the debate of a market economy versus a centrally planned one, or the conflict between business interests versus human rights. But the crux of the matter for Vietnam's 85 million citizens is the right to choose their own destiny, free from fear or intimidation.

And for that, instead of embracing a corrupt dictatorship, the international community should do the right thing: stand alongside the Vietnamese people and fight for the right to choose freely.

Diem H Do is chairman of Viet Tan (www.viettan.org), a political party aiming to achieve democracy in Vietnam through peaceful means.

Vietnam elects assembly members

By BEN STOCKING, AP
Sun May 20

HANOI, Vietnam - Voters went to the polls Sunday to elect new members
to
Vietnam's National Assembly ‹ a body with a growing influence over
government policy ‹ in a Communist Party-controlled election.

Once considered a rubber-stamp for the executive branch, the 500-member
National Assembly has started to assert itself more in recent years.
Its
members have begun aggressively questioning government ministers, and
they
carefully review drafts of laws submitted by government agencies.

The assembly has made a priority of cracking down on corruption, which
is
widespread in Vietnam.

Eighty-three percent of the candidates are party members and all the
nonparty candidates have been screened by the Fatherland Front, a
powerful
party umbrella organization.

Although 30 self-nominated candidates are running, no other political
parties are allowed to participate.

"The National Assembly is increasingly exerting its influence over
government policy," said Jonathan Pincus, chief economist with the

United Nations Development Program in Hanoi. "But the election itself
is not
an important milestone in the process of political change."

Despite gains being made by the assembly, the center of power in
Vietnam
remains with the executive branch, which the Communist Party controls.

Hanoi voter Truong Van Truong, 60, said he hoped the new assembly would
take
tougher steps to curb corruption.

"Authorities have talked a lot about the fight against corruption,"
Truong
said, after casting his ballot. "We want to see deeds, not words."

Voters in each assembly district choose two to three candidates from
four to
five on their ballot. Voting is mandatory, so turnout is generally
high.

But family members often cast ballots on one another's behalf, so many
voters participate without going to the polls.

"I have never voted in my life," said Nguyen Hoang Yen, 36, of Hanoi.
"Usually my father goes to vote for the four people in my family."

While many ordinary citizens seem more focused on work and family than
politics, the government has been doing its best to get them
interested.

The streets of Hanoi have been adorned with red flags and banners
exhorting
voters to select candidates with "good morals and talent" and reminding
them
that voting is "the right and responsibility of each citizen."

During the past few weeks, people have been awakened by loudspeakers
blaring
patriotic songs and announcers reading candidate biographies.

This is Vietnam's 12th National Assembly election; members serve
five-year
terms.

Ninety percent of the current assembly seats are occupied by Communist
Party
members. Authorities have said they want nonparty members to occupy
more
than 10 percent of the new assembly.

Initially, 238 "self-nominated" candidates ‹ those not officially
endorsed
by the Communist Party ‹ sought to run.

But all candidates had to go through three rounds of screening by the
party's Fatherland Front. Only 30 of them made it through the screening
process.

EU condemns jailing of activists in Vietnam

15 May 2007

(BERLIN) - The German presidency of the European Union on Tuesday condemned the jailing of eight human rights activists in Vietnam in recent weeks and called for the release of all non-violent dissidents.

"The EU has noted with great concern that several human rights defenders have been arrested and given long prison sentences on charges of 'conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam'," Berlin said.

"The EU reiterates its plea to the government to release all non-violent political activists who have simply exercised their right to freedom of expression."

On Tuesday, lawyer Tran Quoc Hien, 42, was sentenced to five years in jail in Vietnam for spreading anti-state propaganda and disrupting security.

Hien, the former director of the Saigon Legal Consultancy, was a member of the underground pro-democracy movement Bloc 8406 launched over a year ago and a spokesman for a banned workers' and farmers' organisation.

It is the latest in a series of arrests and trials of political activists in Vietnam that have drawn protests from Western governments and human rights groups.

Last week, separate courts in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City jailed five other dissidents, including Hanoi lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan.

In March, three activists, including a priest, were sentenced to respectively eight, six and five years in jail.

Vietnam crackdown on human rights sparks call to action

May 14, 2007 | by Tom Strode

WASHINGTON (BP)--The United States should compel Vietnam to reverse its crackdown on human rights that occurred after the communist regime received favorable treatment from Washington, witnesses said at a recent congressional hearing.

Southern Baptist church-state specialist Richard Land testified on behalf of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, reiterating the panel's recommendation that Vietnam be returned to a list of the world's worst violators of religious liberty and urging Congress to support human rights in the Southeast Asian country.

White House and congressional leaders also have protested the renewed suppression.

Vietnam made some improvements in its policies regarding religious expression and other human rights during the previous 18 months, but it renewed some repressive practices in February, according to testimony May 10 to the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. The regime's crackdown resulted in lengthy prison sentences for several peaceful, pro-democracy activists, the panel was told.

This repression followed on the heels of some foreign policy victories for the Vietnamese government. In November, the U.S. State Department announced it had removed Vietnam from its "countries of particular concern" (CPCs), a designation for particularly severe violators of religious freedom. In December, Congress approved Permanent Normal Trade Relations for Vietnam. In January, the country officially was accepted into the World Trade Organization.

Vietnam "is a country with a rapidly liberalizing economy and yet still a repressive -– and sometimes brutal –- government," said Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

Diem Do, chairman of the Vietnam Reform Party, told caucus members the removal of CPC designation, as well as the attainment of PNTR status and entry into the WTO, gave Vietnam, in effect, all it "cherished" and enabled the regime's leaders to "consolidate their power."

The government "tolerated the democracy movement, and now that tolerance is no longer needed," he said.

Land re-emphasized the USCIRF's displeasure with the State Department's removal of Vietnam from the CPC list. Only eight days before his testimony, the commission had urged in its annual report the return of the regime to that designation.

Removing CPC status for Vietnam "was not fully warranted by the facts on the ground" and was premature, Land said at the hearing. The State Department "looked at the situation in Vietnam, and they saw a glass that was half full, and we see a glass that's half-empty and may be getting more empty," he said.

The lifting of Vietnam's CPC designation "was too soon, we argued at the time, to determine whether promises of religious freedom improvement and legal reforms would last beyond Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organization," Land said. "Sadly, it appears that they did not."

Vietnam desires "American investment to expand its economy as rapidly as it wants to, and so as long as we have bilateral relations with Vietnam we can make human rights concerns and make religious freedom concerns part of the dialogue if we want to," Land said. "I think that's the choice that we face as a government. Will our policy be to de-couple these or to couple them? And we would strongly urge for the sake of the Vietnamese people and for the sake of their future that these would continue to be coupled and coupled even more closely than they are now."

On the same day as the hearing, the White House released a statement protesting Vietnam's incarceration of democracy advocates and its recent action to keep people from visiting a member of Congress at the U.S. ambassador's home. Press Secretary Tony Snow said such suppression "is anachronistic and out of keeping with Vietnam's desire to prosper, modernize and take a more prominent role in world affairs."

The House of Representatives voted unanimously May 2 for legislation condemning the crackdown. The bill, H.R. 243, deplores the Vietnamese government's limitations on freedom of speech, religion and association. It also questions Vietnam's fitness for membership on the U.N. Security Council without change. The House voted 404-0 for the measure, which is sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith, R.-N.J.

Diem Do told caucus members that the democracy movement in his country has "more determination and strength than ever before," despite what he described as "32 years of continuous persecution and brutal reign of terror."

"Never before [have] the communist authorities seen such a grassroots movement represented by so many independent political parties and organizations openly challenging their rule," he said. "It is no longer the question of if democracy will triumph in Vietnam, but when."

Land called for Congress to maintain supervision of the human rights dialogue between Washington and Hanoi. He urged U.S. funds devoted to a development program be targeted for ethnic minorities, whose property rights and religious liberty are being restricted. Land also called on corporations with a presence in Vietnam to work for the advance of human rights.

Do encouraged the United States to press Vietnam to release several democracy advocates from prison and to urge the regime to stop jamming the signals of Radio Free Asia.

Land named as particular targets of government repression ethnic minority Protestants in the Central Highlands region and Northwest provinces, Hmong Protestants, Vietnamese Mennonites, Khmer Buddhists and leaders of the Unified Buddhist Church.

He said the USCIRF has requested a visit to Vietnam as early as this summer.

U.S. Condemns Vietnam, Syria for Detaining Political Activists

By Ed Johnson

May 12 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. condemned Syria and Vietnam for their crackdown on political activists after pro-democracy campaigners were arrested in the two countries.

``All political prisoners in Syria should be released immediately,'' White House spokesman Tony Snow said in a statement yesterday, adding President Bashar al-Assad's government ``continues to suppress dissent.''

Snow also called for democratic progress in Vietnam and said the Bush administration is concerned that authorities prevented Vietnamese citizens from attending meetings at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Hanoi with a visiting member of the U.S. Congress.

President George W. Bush's administration has previously criticized the human rights records of the two nations. In a speech in December, Bush called on the government in Damascus to free political prisoners. The U.S. State Department said in a March report that Vietnam's human rights record in 2006 was ``unsatisfactory.''

In yesterday's statement, the White House condemned the recent sentencing of democracy activists Anwar al-Bunni and Kamal Labwani in Syria to ``long terms of imprisonment'' and said it is ``alarmed by reports that they have been subjected to inhumane prison conditions.''

Syrian-U.S. Relations

Relations between the Bush administration and al-Assad's government are strained. The U.S. has accused Syria of allowing insurgents to cross the border into Iraq to fight coalition troops. The administration also implicated Syria in the 2005 car-bomb killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Hariri had been pressing for the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, where they had been stationed since 1990. Syria denies both accusations.

U.S.-Vietnamese relations have improved steadily in recent years, although the U.S. continues to criticize limitations on freedom of speech and other alleged human rights violations. In its March report, the State Department noted ``a change in attitude'' on human rights and improved conditions for religious believers.

The White House criticized the ``increasing incidence of arrest and detention'' of political activists, including Nguyen Van Ly and Le Quoc Quan.

``As Vietnam's economy and society reform and move forward, such repression of individuals for their views is anachronistic and out of keeping with Vietnam's desire to prosper, modernize and take a more prominent role in world affairs,'' said Snow in the statement.

Vietnam dissident lawyers jailed

Two human rights lawyers have been jailed in Vietnam, in the latest court case against political activists.

Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan were sentenced to five years and four years respectively by the Hanoi People's Court.

They were found guilty of spreading propaganda intended to undermine Vietnam's Communist government.

A court in Ho Chi Minh City convicted three other activists on similar charges on Thursday.

Le Nguyen Sang was sentenced to five years in jail, Nguyen Bac Truyen to four years, and Huynh Nguyen Dao to three years.

Crackdown

Both Mr Dai and Ms Nhan were arrested on 6 March, accused of collaborating with overseas pro-democracy advocates and using the internet to spread their views.

As well as receiving jail terms by the Hanoi court, they were also ordered to serve several years' house arrest after the completion of their sentences.

Their trial is the latest in a series of court cases against members of the underground Bloc 8406 pro-democracy movement, which is named after the date it was launched, on 8 April last year.
This crackdown on political dissidents has been criticised by Western diplomats and international human rights groups.

An ex-prime minister, with links to the current leadership, recently told the BBC that there should be a dialogue with dissidents.

In a rare interview, Vo Van Kiet - a reformist who was prime minister from 1991 to 1997 - said the government should not avoid "talking to those who have a different view".

And he urged the authorities "not to execute administrative measures" in their dealings with dissidents.

In March, dissident Catholic priest Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly was jailed for eight years for working with overseas democracy activists.

Another dissident, Tran Quoc Hien, is scheduled to go on trial in Ho Chi Minh City next week.

Vietnam Sentences Dissident Lawyers to Prison

By Matt Steinglass
Hanoi
11 May 2007

Two lawyers who ran a center for human rights law and supported alternative political parties in Vietnam were sentenced to prison Friday in Hanoi. Their trial came a day after three other democracy activists were convicted of similar charges in Ho Chi Minh City. Matt Steinglass reports from Hanoi that the convictions are the latest in a crackdown on democracy activists.


General view of the trial of three dissidents at Ho Chi Minh-City People's Court, 10 May 2007

Lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan are members of the Vietnamese democracy and human rights group "Bloc 8406," and had organized seminars for students on international human rights law.

On Friday, a court in Hanoi sentenced Dai to five years in prison and Nhan to four years. Head judge Nguyen Huu Chinh pronounced them guilty under Article 88 of Vietnam's criminal code, for spreading propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Chinh says that the seminars Dai opened in December 2006 spread propaganda against the state, and defamed former Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh.

Dai and his lawyer denied the charges.

Dai says the seminars simply discussed the social and political situation of Vietnam.

Nhan complained that she was not allowed to defend herself properly.

Nhan says the court's procedure violated Vietnamese regulations, and that she was not allowed to speak during the part of the trial where the accused and their lawyers mount their defense.

Nhan was convicted in part for being the spokeswoman of the Vietnam Progression Party, which was founded last year. Vietnam's Communist Party is the only legal political party in the country.

The prosecution is part of a broad crackdown against Vietnam's small democracy movement, which gained strength through 2006. Since the beginning of this year, the government has detained more than a dozen democracy activists.

On Thursday in Ho Chi Minh City, Le Nguyen Sang, Nguyen Bac Truyen and Huynh Nguyen Dao were sentenced to three to five years in prison. They were convicted of collaborating with Thanh Cong Do, a Vietnamese-American active in a US-based Vietnamese political party. Do was expelled from Vietnam last September.

A dissident Catholic priest, Ngyuen Van Ly, was sentenced last month to eight years in prison.

The arrests and trials in Vietnam have sparked condemnation from several Western countries and human rights organizations.

A European Union diplomat who attended Friday's trial said while it was good that foreign journalists and diplomats were allowed to observe, Vietnam should not be condemning people for peacefully expressing their views.

Dai and Nhan will not be the last democracy activists in court. Lawyer and Internet dissident Tran Quoc Hien will go on trial in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday.

Activists sentenced in Vietnam

Activists sentenced in Vietnam Thu May 10

A Vietnamese court sentenced three pro-democracy activists to prison Thursday after convicting them of spreading subversive propaganda, as the communist country continued its latest crackdown against dissent.

Prosecutors said the three had collaborated with Cong Thanh Do, a Vietnamese emigre from San Jose, Calif., who was expelled from Vietnam in September after authorities accused him of plotting against the communist government.

Le Nguyen Sang was sentenced to five years, Nguyen Bac Truyen to four years, and Huynh Nguyen Dao to three years.

They were found guilty of violating Article 88 of Vietnam's criminal code, which broadly prohibits disseminating information harmful to the state.

The U.S. Embassy in Hanoi released a statement saying it was "deeply troubled" by the convictions.

"We're not aware of anything to indicate that these individuals were engaged in activities that conflict with their right to peaceful expression of political thought, widely recognized under international law," the statement said.

The convictions came in the wake of a "disturbing increase" in the harassment of dissidents, the embassy said. "We call on the government of Vietnam to release these individuals and allow for the peaceful expression of political views without fear of recrimination."

On Friday, two well-known Hanoi human rights lawyers, Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, will go on trial on similar charges.

Hours before the trial began, Hanoi released a political prisoner who had been detained for more than two decades and allowed him to fly to the United States to be reunited with his family.

Authorities released Phan Van Ban We, who had been imprisoned since 1985 after he joined an organization calling for political change. Ban, a former policeman from the city of Dalat, left Vietnam on Wednesday night and flew to the U.S., where he was to be reunited with a son who is an American citizen.

Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet granted a pardon to Ban on April 25, citing his advancing age and desire to be reunited with his family, according to the Vietnam News Agency. Ban was born in 1937, though his exact age was immediately clear.

The U.S. Embassy issued a statement Thursday welcoming Ban's release.

"He was held in prison for more than 20 years after peacefully calling for political change in Vietnam," the statement said. "We are pleased that Mr. Ban will soon be able to join his family in the United States.

Three activists jailed in Vietnam

Three dissidents in Vietnam have been jailed for up to five years for spreading anti-Communist propaganda.
They were found guilty of being members of a banned political party and having links to a Vietnamese-American activist expelled from Vietnam last year.

The authorities have recently stepped up a campaign to silence dissent, and several activists have been jailed.

An ex-prime minister, with links to the current leadership, told the BBC there should be a dialogue with dissidents.

In a rare interview, Vo Van Kiet - a reformist who was prime minister from 1991 to 1997 - said the government should not avoid "talking to those who have a different view".

And he urged the authorities "not to execute administrative measures" in their dealings with dissidents.

'Legal acts'

The three jailed activists were said to be members of the banned People's Democratic Party, which campaigns for a multi-party system of government.

Le Nguyen Sang, 48, was sentenced to five years in jail, Nguyen Bac Truyen, 39, received four years and Huynh Nguyen Dao, 39, was given three years.

They were found guilty of violating article 88, which bans disseminating information harmful to the state.

Prosecutors said they had "carried out activities that aimed to end the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, demanding pluralism and a multi-party system".

The three were also accused of collaborating with Cong Thanh Do, who emigrated from Vietnam to the US in the 1980s.

Do was arrested while on holiday in Vietnam and deported last September by the authorities, who accused him of plotting to overthrow the government.

Do himself condemned the sentences, saying the three had committed no crimes.

"To advocate freedom of expression, to exercise freedom of association and to seek or exchange information by peaceful means are legal acts," he was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

Two prominent human rights lawyers in Hanoi are expected to go on trial on Friday, also accused of defaming the state.

Another lawyer faces the same charge at a court hearing scheduled for next week in Ho Chi Minh.

A Catholic priest and rights activist was jailed in March for eight years on charges of disseminating information to undermine the state.

International Community Called to Scrutinise Human Rights Trial in Vietnam

The international community has been called to scrutinise the trial of arrested Vietnamese human rights defenders, Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, which is due to take place Friday 11 May 2007.

by Jennifer Gold
Posted: Saturday, May 5, 2007, 13:13 (BST)

The international community has been called to scrutinise the trial of arrested Vietnamese human rights defenders, Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, which is due to take place Friday 11 May 2007.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has said that international observers of Vietnam are predicting that the trial will be a sham, and that the verdict may already have been decided upon.

Christian lawyer Nguyen Van Dai is reportedly facing several accusations relating to his defence of religious freedom, including disseminating “alleged infractions of religious liberty [to Vietnam’s enemies abroad]”.

He has become a prominent human rights advocate, since defending the so-called ‘Mennonite Six’ in 2004-05. His colleague Le Thi Cong Nhan faces similar charges.

In violation of Vietnam’s own legal process, the pair have been denied all access to a lawyer, and indictment documents have not been released to the next of kin.

Additionally, Dai’s wife has not been allowed to visit her husband.

On 2 May, Tran Lam, the lawyer attempting to defend the pair, was finally accredited for the case. He was permitted to see the case documents for the first time, but only within the court.

The trial follows the sentencing of 60-year-old Catholic priest, Father Nguyen Van Ly, to eight years in prison for distributing “material harmful to the state”, on 29 March 2007.

Father Van Ly was pictured being held down and gagged within the courtroom, CSW has reported.

These cases are the subject of House Resolution 243 in the United States Congress, which calls for their immediate and unconditional release.

CSW’s Advocacy Director, Tina Lambert, said, “The world must urgently raise its voice against these cases. They represent a significant relapse for the Vietnamese government into its most repressive mode, and the imminent trial provides an urgent imperative for clear international attention.

“We condemn the arrests of these two lawyers for their defence of human rights, and urge the Vietnamese government to release them immediately.”

Vietnam's vise on dissent

GOVERNMENT CRACKS DOWN ON DISSIDENTS, IGNORES HUMAN RIGHTS
By Andrew Lam
San Jose Mercury News
Article Launched:05/06/2007 01:41:38 AM PDT

A picture paints a thousand words, but an image taken from the state-controlled television in Vietnam and circulated widely on the Internet can convey the struggle of an entire people. The image shows a man, flanked by two angry-looking policemen, sitting bleary-eyed, his mouth covered by the hand of an out-of-uniform policeman behind him.

Name: The Rev. Nguyen Van Ly. Sentence: Eight years imprisonment. Crime: Carrying out propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

During his trial March 30, the Rev. Ly's mouth was physically muzzled after he recited four lines of his own poetry.

Communist trial of Vietnam

A lewd comedy for years

Jurors a bunch of baboons

Servants of dictators, who are you to judge?

International human rights groups condemned the sentencing, which took only five minutes; he was not represented by a defense lawyer. "This sentence means Father Ly will be a prisoner of conscience for the fourth time in two decades," said Tim Parritt, Amnesty International's deputy Asia Pacific director. "It is indicative of a broader crackdown on dissent by the Vietnamese authorities that has been intensifying since the country held the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) meeting last November."

Vietnam intermittently plays a cat-and-mouse game with its political dissidents, arresting and releasing its most famous activists while those less visible are "disappeared." Since March, however, Vietnam has launched one of the worst attacks on dissidents in 20 years. Among those arrested with the Rev. Ly were Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan. All three were charged with carrying out propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, under article 88 of the penal code. If convicted, Nhan and Dai face sentences of up to 20 years in prison.

The arrest and subsequent disappearance of lawyers Le Quoc Quan and Tran Thuy Trang, however, are particularly alarming. Both are well-known. After returning from a fellowship at the National Endowment for Democracy in the United States, Quan was arrested March 8 and charged with attempting to overthrow the Hanoi regime. The day before, Trang, another young lawyer in Ho Chi Minh City, was reportedly arrested by 60 security police officers. She has not been heard from since. According to Human Rights Watch, Trang's family was forced to sign documents promising not to discuss the arrest.

Speculations abound. Why now? Vietnam, after all, has been granted membership in the World Trade Organization and made its entrance to the world's economic stage last November when it hosted its first APEC conference. Its gross national product has been growing at a steady and impressive 7 percent for the last several years, and while political dissent is not allowed, Vietnam's population is experiencing far more personal freedoms than during the Cold War. Many are allowed to travel overseas. Private capitalism is all the rage. Movement within Vietnam is permitted freely. There's a middle class with disposable income and access to the Internet. Vietnamese media, too, while still controlled by the state, have proliferated and some have been pushing the envelope to cover stories of corruption and even official wrongdoings.

Keeping a grip on power

Perhaps that's precisely why, at least in the eye of the ruling communist elites, the crackdown seems to be needed: to maintain absolute power. Political movements are brewing along with an increasingly wealthy and educated population, especially now that the population is growing more sophisticated and politically aware. Voices of dissent are heard daily, if not on the opinion page, then at least on the streets.

Nguyen Van Dai, an outspoken dissident, is one of a handful of practicing human rights lawyers in Vietnam. He founded the Committee for Human Rights in Vietnam in 2006 and was recently awarded the prestigious Hellman/Hammett prize for persecuted writers.

The Rev. Ly is a co-founder of Bloc 8406 - a political movement that made its entrance to Vietnam's public stage on April 8, 2006, when it published "Manifesto for Freedom and Democracy." Two days earlier, it had issued an "Appeal for Freedom of Political Association." These documents boldly challenged the Vietnamese government to uphold individuals' rights to free expression, association and participation in political affairs.

Hanoi swiftly retaliated against both. "Several key organizers of Bloc 8406 and their families have been harassed and imprisoned, showing that the Vietnamese government is still trying to silence its critics," said Sophie Richardson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch. "Targeting the most vocal, visible activists sends a message to the others: Don't speak out or you'll suffer the same fate."

If Hanoi was reluctant to act before President Bush's visit during the APEC meeting last November, it has not hesitated since. For a president who touted "freedom" and "democracy" in the Middle East, Bush came bearing an unexpected gift - a license, as it were - for the government to use against its dissidents. Though the U.S. president originally had hoped to give Vietnam normal trading status, that deal was delayed in Congress. Embarrassed by having no gift in hand, he dropped Vietnam from the list of nations that severely curtail religious freedom instead, even as these violations continued unabated.

The widely published photo of Bush smiling amicably under the bust of Ho Chi Minh augured terribly bad feng shui for Vietnamese human rights activists. It clashed with images of heavily guarded homes of political dissidents just a few kilometers from the APEC meeting in Hanoi. Freedom and democracy, apparently, were far from the U.S. president's mind in Vietnam. The United States once served as the bright and shiny model of democracy for many in Vietnam. But no longer.

Since Bush's visit, the list of those arrested has grown. Nguyen Tan Hoanh, Doan Van Dien, Doan Huy Chuong, Tran Thi Le Hong, Le Ba Triet and Nguyen Tuan are among hundreds of political and religious prisoners in Vietnam, including cyber-dissident Nguyen Vu Binh, at least nine members of the Cao Dai religion, 10 Hoa Hao Buddhists and more than 350 ethnic minority Christian "Montagnards" from the Central Highlands. The latest to be taken into custody on April 21 was Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, an award-winning journalist and writer. Thuy was taken away from her home where she was under house arrest for allegedly violating article 88 of Vietnam's criminal code. What she actually did was writing various essays on the Internet calling for greater democracy.

Congressional resolution

On April 27, 2007, a resolution proposed by Republican Rep. Chris Smith was passed. It says the United States should "make a top concern the immediate release, legal status and humanitarian needs" of the Rev. Ly, and the lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on Wednesday likewise recommended to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Vietnam be put back on the list of "countries of particular concern," or CPCs. But it may prove to be awkward for Rice - to take back the president's gift in less than half a year.

In Vietnam the word censorship is the colloquial phrase: bit mien - to cover the mouth. The picture of the Rev. Ly's muzzling seems a literal enactment of an old cliche. But in the old days, his image wouldn't have gotten out of the country so quickly or circulated so widely, nor would his voice be heard at all. Back then, before the Cold War ended, he would have disappeared without a trace.

The wind of change seems to be on the dissidents' side. Thanks to high-tech communications such as the Internet, cell phones and satellite dishes, and increasing interactions with foreigners, Vietnam has a more informed, and therefore, increasingly restless, citizenry.

The Vietnamese word for leader - "lanh dao" - literally means "bearer of the truth (or the way)." Such leadership is non-existent among communist party leaders since Ho Chi Minh. These days, the carriers of the dao are identified with dissidents like the Rev. Nguyen Van Ly and human rights lawyers like Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, prisoners of conscience with fearless spirit and indomitable strength.

And so, if one were to peel away the policeman's hand from the Rev. Ly's mouth, the rest of his poem may go something like this.

You can cover our mouths, blind our eyes

We will still speak, and see

Your rotten ideology is at an end

Your cruelty the sign of weakness

Change is coming! Change is coming!

And we, the people, will be free.

Dissidents face trials in Vietnam

US CRITICISM: Six individuals face charges of spreading propaganda against the communist government, a crime that carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison

AFP, HANOI
Saturday, May 05, 2007, Page 5

Six Vietnamese political dissidents will face court in three trials in coming weeks, officials and state media said yesterday as the communist government rejected US criticism over its human-rights record.

The activists will all be tried and sentenced in one-day hearings on charges of spreading propaganda against the one-party state, a crime under Vietnamese law that carries up to 20 years' jail, court officials said.

Three members of an illegal party and a spokesman for an outlawed workers and farmers rights group will go on trial in Ho Chi Minh City, while two human-rights lawyers will face a previously scheduled trial in Hanoi.

The hearings come ahead of May 20 National Assembly elections, which the underground Bloc 8406 pro-democracy coalition has urged citizens to boycott because the poll allows only candidates approved by the Communist Party.

Next Thursday, three key members of the banned People's Democratic Party -- medical doctor Le Nguyen Sang, 48, journalist Huynh Nguyen Dao, 39, and lawyer Nguyen Bac Truyen, 39 -- will face Ho Chi Minh City People's Court.

They are accused of communicating online with Vietnamese-American dissident Cong Thanh Do with the aim of "sowing the seeds of discontent among the Vietnamese public," said the state-run Vietnam News Agency (VNA).

California-based Do, who was jailed but released after US pressure last September, had instructed Sang "to print and distribute leaflets that contained highly distorted information against Vietnam's state and party," VNA said.

Dao allegedly distributed the leaflets from October 2005 to June last year.

In the second trial next Friday, Hanoi lawyers and pro-democracy activists Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, who were arrested in March, face trial in the capital Hanoi, also accused of defaming the state.

And on May 15, lawyer Tran Quoc Hien, 42, a spokesman for the United Workers and Farmers' Association and a Bloc 8406 member, will be prosecuted in Ho Chi Minh City, again on charges of disrupting security.

The trials in the southern commercial hub formerly called Saigon will last one day each and be open to local and foreign media, said Ho Chi Minh City's People's Court official Vu Phi Long.

The Hanoi trial is also expected to be open, according to sources.

In late March, foreign media were allowed to attend a trial in the central city of Hue in which dissident Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly, 60, was sentenced to eight years' jail, also for spreading anti-state propaganda.

The open trials and a flurry of unusually detailed state media reports attacking dissidents have signalled a more assertive line from Hanoi against activists who challenge the political monopoly of the Communist Party.

The arrests and trials have raised tensions between Washington and Hanoi over political and religious freedoms ahead of a visit by Vietnam's President Nguyen Minh Triet to the US scheduled for June.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom said on Wednesday Vietnam should be blacklisted as a country violating religious freedoms after being taken off the list shortly before a November visit by US President George W. Bush.

The commission said that since Hanoi was taken off the list and then joined the WTO in January, "positive religious freedom trends have, for the most part, stalled."

On the same day the US House of Representatives passed a resolution calling for the release of Father Ly and all other political prisoners.

In Hanoi, Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung said Vietnam "opposes the interference of foreign countries in its internal affairs" and said "no-one in Vietnam is arrested due to their political views or religion."

"Recently there have been individuals who have used the cloak of democracy and freedom to violate Vietnam's laws, undermining security, social order and stability," he said in a statement.
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International Community Called to Scrutinise Human Rights Trial in Vietnam

The international community has been called to scrutinise the trial of arrested Vietnamese human rights defenders, Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, which is due to take place Friday 11 May 2007.

by Jennifer Gold

The international community has been called to scrutinise the trial of arrested Vietnamese human rights defenders, Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, which is due to take place Friday 11 May 2007.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has said that international observers of Vietnam are predicting that the trial will be a sham, and that the verdict may already have been decided upon.

Christian lawyer Nguyen Van Dai is reportedly facing several accusations relating to his defence of religious freedom, including disseminating “alleged infractions of religious liberty [to Vietnam’s enemies abroad]”.

He has become a prominent human rights advocate, since defending the so-called ‘Mennonite Six’ in 2004-05. His colleague Le Thi Cong Nhan faces similar charges.

In violation of Vietnam’s own legal process, the pair have been denied all access to a lawyer, and indictment documents have not been released to the next of kin.

Additionally, Dai’s wife has not been allowed to visit her husband.

On 2 May, Tran Lam, the lawyer attempting to defend the pair, was finally accredited for the case. He was permitted to see the case documents for the first time, but only within the court.

The trial follows the sentencing of 60-year-old Catholic priest, Father Nguyen Van Ly, to eight years in prison for distributing “material harmful to the state”, on 29 March 2007.

Father Van Ly was pictured being held down and gagged within the courtroom, CSW has reported.

These cases are the subject of House Resolution 243 in the United States Congress, which calls for their immediate and unconditional release.

CSW’s Advocacy Director, Tina Lambert, said, “The world must urgently raise its voice against these cases. They represent a significant relapse for the Vietnamese government into its most repressive mode, and the imminent trial provides an urgent imperative for clear international attention.

“We condemn the arrests of these two lawyers for their defence of human rights, and urge the Vietnamese government to release them immediately.”

Memo to Hanoi

By CHRIS SMITH , BART STUPAK and FRANK WOLF
May 4, 2007

A Catholic priest who has already spent over 13 years in prison is rearrested and sentenced to eight more years for serving as an advisor to a democracy movement and a new political party. A woman, whose husband had recently been released from jail after serving time for spreading pro-democracy material, is hit by a car -- believed to be driven and occupied by plainclothes police officers -- in an effort to intimidate her and prevent her from meeting with the U.S. Ambassador. A lawyer who travels to the U.S. to serve as a Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy is arrested within a week of his return home, and charged with engaging in activities aimed at overthrowing the government.

While these stories sound like they were lifted from the files of the KGB, they are, in reality, all events that have recently taken place in Vietnam.

Each event, while outrageous and appalling, is also regrettably predictable. Vietnam claims to have put an end to human rights abuses, but its so-called reforms have turned out to be nothing more than smoke and mirrors. The Vietnamese government continues to carry out human rights abuses with impunity.

Earlier this week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution we sponsored to once again insist that the government of Vietnam stop playing games with human rights. Our resolution calls on the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience who have been arrested in a recent wave of government oppression.

That includes Father Nguyen Van Ly, the aforementioned Catholic priest, who was sentenced to eight years in prison merely for attempting to exercise his fundamental human right of peacefully advocating for change in Vietnam. Father Ly's kangaroo court proceedings were over before they started. Given no defense lawyer, he was left to fend for himself in a courtroom where his guilt was predetermined and his mouth muzzled as he attempted to stand up for his rights.

He is not alone. Around the same time Father Ly was hauled in, Vietnamese police arrested the principal spokesperson for the Vietnam Progression Party and the founder of the Vietnamese Labor Movement, Le Thi Cong Nhan. On the same day Father Ly was arrested -- March 6, 2007 -- Vietnamese police arrested one of Vietnam's few practicing human rights lawyers, Nguyen Van Dai.

Along with the disgraceful attempts to silence political opposition, the regime in Hanoi continues to repress religious freedom and persecute members of the Cao Dai religion, the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, Hoa Hao Buddhists and the Montagnards from the Central Highlands. Labor rights are nearly non-existent and the Vietnamese government has made little to no progress in ending the horrific crime of human trafficking in their country.

The conviction of Father Ly and the arrests of Mr. Dai and Ms. Nhan violate Article 69 of the Vietnamese Constitution and are in contravention of the rights enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Vietnam is a state party. Father Ly and the other dissidents merely want a better future for their country. They are smart, talented and kind people -- some of Vietnam's best, brightest and bravest. They harbor no malice toward, and have in no way advocated violence against, the Vietnamese government.

Much like Vaclav Havel, Lech Walesa and other champions of democracy who helped bring about the peaceful end of communism in Eastern Europe, these individuals are heroes. They and their families are consistently harassed, persecuted and, in many cases, incarcerated and tortured solely because they advocate for a Vietnam where they and their countrymen can speak freely, vote in free and fair elections, and practice their faith.

Tyranny hates and fears public exposure, so we must keep attention focused like a laser beam on Vietnam's ongoing human rights violations. The U.S. House of Representatives has vigorously called for reform through passage of our resolution, giving a voice to the dissidents in Vietnam who continue to be silenced by the regime, and demanding that the government of Vietnam complies with internationally recognized standards for basic freedoms and human rights. The international community -- especially Vietnam's neighbors and trading partners -- should follow suit with a similar resolution to bring pressure to bear on the regime.

When Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2006, membership was granted in light of assurances that the Vietnamese government was steadily improving its human rights record and would continue to do so. This recent crackdown is a significant step backward. The norms and responsibilities of joining the international community do not end with WTO membership. Rather, a constant commitment to protecting and promoting human rights should be required of all member states. If Vietnam's leaders are unwilling to live up to the obligations of WTO membership, then they are undeserving of the benefits that come from it.

Human rights are central -- and must be at the absolute core of our relationship with any government. Vietnam shouldn't be an exception.

The authors are members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Mr. Smith is a Republican of New Jersey; Mr. Stupak is a Democrat of Michigan; Mr. Wolf is a Republican of Virginia.

Distorted Headlines: Vietnam's Suppression of Information

By Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove)

The media has historically played a major role in strengthening democracies and fostering development around the world. As a human rights advocate, I think the power of the press and fighting to improve human rights go hand-in-hand.

Government propaganda and press censorship aim to create a distorted reality and manipulate thought among a government's citizenry. Although the Vietnamese government would argue that freedom of the press does exist, how do they explain the incarceration of journalists Nguyen Vu Binh and Tran Khai Thanh Thuy?

Although the Vietnamese Constitution says "the citizen shall enjoy freedom of opinion and speech, freedom of the press, the right to be informed, and the right to assemble, form associations and hold demonstrations in accordance with the provisions of the law" the reality is that the flow of information is still subject to the discretion of the government.

The statistics speak for themselves:

Vietnam has no private ownership of its 500-plus newspapers and magazines;
Approximately 2,000 of Vietnam's 5,000 Internet sites are currently blocked for posting content that the state has deemed "subversive" or "reactionary;"
Foreign journalists are subjected to harsh scrutiny when covering stories within Vietnam, and are often expelled if they are believed to be working against the interests of the State;
Radio Free Asia is continually jammed;

And journalists, poets, democracy and human rights advocates and "cyber dissidents" continue to be harassed, placed under house arrest, and issued harsh jail sentences.

And you see it in the headlines. Following my trip to Vietnam last April, the headlines in the U.S. and Europe read: Vietnam police bar dissidents' wives meeting US ambassador (AP, 4/6/2007); O.C. lawmaker: Hanoi 'goons' accosted group (Orange County Register, 4/6/2007). Whereas the Vietnamese government-controlled media headlines read: Terrorist group works out plan for Sanchez's visit (Vietnam Net Bridge, 4/8/2007).

Conversely, headlines in my district (the 47th Congressional District) that has one of the largest Vietnamese constituencies outside of Vietnam, include stories of oppression, religious and political persecution- painting a better picture of what is happening in Vietnam. They have been a vehicle for informing Americans on the injustices occurring in Vietnam.

World Press Freedom Day (observed on May 3) celebrates press freedom and recognizes the on-going plight for journalists to freely report the news. Journalists in Vietnam struggle with censorship and persecution everyday. Despite numerous publications and media outlets operating in Vietnam, information is highly censored and tracked. Journalists risk police retribution in speaking out against the government.

As a member of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus & Co-founder of the Congressional Caucus on Vietnam, I've participated in panel discussions on the silencing of media in Vietnam and repeated violations and persecution of freedom of expression and information in Vietnam.

This year, I led an international effort in calling for the immediate release of incarcerated journalist Nguyen Vu Binh, former journalist for Tap Chi Cong San (the Journal of Communism). Binh was incarcerated shortly after publicizing articles over the Internet calling for multi-party democracy. According to his wife, he has been food poisoned several times in prison and needs immediate medical attention. Although the congressional request gained the support of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the Vietnamese government has not released him.

Another press suppression incident includes the recent arrest of Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, an award-winning journalist and writer. Thuy was reportedly taken into custody Saturday, April 21, at her residence, where she was held under house arrest. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Thuy was charged with violating Article 88 of Vietnam's criminal code, which prohibits the dissemination of information that authorities deem harmful to the state.

Just this year, Reporters Without Borders, reported the imprisonment of seven Vietnamese journalists for violating criminal code for their writings or online postings. Reporters Without Borders says that "Vietnam remains one of the world's most repressive countries where the Internet is concerned." They say, "the [Vietnamese] government blocks access to websites it considers politically and morally 'dangerous,' including foreign news sites and those of human rights organizations set up by Vietnamese abroad."

Despite their limitations, journalists in Vietnam continue to risk their lives reporting factual information that often challenges and questions government policy. Although the Vietnamese government interrupts and monitors their channels of communication by fire walling internet lines, jamming cell phones, shutting down media outlets and arresting journalists they continue to write.

I will continue to work with my colleagues in the U.S. Congress to promote awareness and policy debate on Vietnam's repressive human rights policy how it affects our country's relationship with Vietnam.

Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, and is an essential tool in weighing the transparency and openness of society. And the Vietnamese government has a long way to go if it hopes to one day become a fully integrated member of the global community.

Blacklist Vietnam for abuse of religious freedom: US panel

AFP, May 2, 2007

A US commission called Wednesday for Vietnam to be reinstated on Washington's blacklist of countries violating religious freedoms, as other Asian countries including China and Indonesia also were sharply criticized for serious abuses.

"We recommend that Vietnam be re-designated as a CPC (country of particular concern) in 2007," the US Commission on International Religious Freedom wrote in its annual report.

It said that since Hanoi was taken off the blacklist in November 2006 and joined the WTO, "positive religious freedom trends have, for the most part, stalled" amid a crackdown on human rights activists.

The authoritarian Southeast Asian nation was taken off the US State Department's list of countries of particular concern on the eve of a visit to Hanoi by President George W. Bush.

The commission recommended that 10 other countries remain on the list: China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Myanmar, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The panel noted that "there are no personal freedoms in North Korea," one of the most egregious rights violators.

"The government severely represses public and private religious activities and maintains a policy of pervasive control over government-sanctioned religious practice," the commission wrote.

Meanwhile, Beijing, the commission wrote, engages in serious restrictions, even repression, of religious freedoms, particularly toward Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims, Christians and adherents to spiritual practices like Falun Gong.

Abuses of religious freedoms in China "involve imprisonment, torture, and other forms of ill treatment," the panel wrote.

"Religious freedom conditions deteriorated for communities not affiliated with any of the seven government-approved religious organizations, those considered by the government to be 'cults,' and those closely associated with ethnic minority groups in China."

Myanmar's military regime has allowed and at times even instigated violence against religions minorities, particularly Christians and Muslims, the commission concluded.

Violations of religious freedoms in Indonesia, meanwhile, were deemed worrisome enough to warrant its inclusion on the watchlist.

Although the situation there has improved somewhat, the commission expressed concern over "ongoing sectarian violence and the Indonesian government's inability or unwillingness to hold those responsible to account."

The panel also decried "the forcible closures of places of worship belonging to religious minorities, and the growing political power and influence of religious extremists, who harass and sometimes instigate violence against moderate Muslim leaders and members of religious minorities."

Iraq, Afghanistan, Belarus, Egypt, Bangladesh, Cuba and Nigeria also were included on the watchlist this year.

Writing about Vietnam, the commission voiced disappointment at "continued arrests and detentions ... and continued severe religious freedom restrictions" targeting Protestants and Buddhists.

The panel recognized some positive religious freedom developments by the ruling Communist Party, including the release of prominent religious prisoners and the end to enforced renunciations of faith.

But the panel said it was "too soon to determine if the legal protections would be permanent and whether such progress would last beyond Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organization."

Among the non-Asian countries added to the watchlist was Iraq, "due to the alarming and deteriorating situation for freedom of religion and belief."

"Despite ongoing efforts to stabilize the country, successive Iraqi governments have not adequately curbed the growing scope and severity of human rights abuses," the panel wrote.

"The Iraqi government has engaged in human rights violations through its state security forces, including arbitrary arrest, prolonged detention without due process, extrajudicial executions, and torture."

House Passes Smith's Resolution Calling for Human Rights Reform in Vietnam

WASHINGTON, May 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In response to a recent, well-orchestrated campaign of political suppression and intimidation by the Government of Vietnam, the U.S. House of Representatives today overwhelmingly passed a resolution authored by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) that calls for an immediate release of all political prisoners and substantial human rights reforms in Vietnam.

"H.Res. 243 is intended to send a critical and timely message to the Vietnamese Government that these serious violations of basic human rights are unacceptable and bring profound dishonor on the government of Vietnam.
These human rights violations cannot be overlooked or continue without equally serious consequences," Smith said today on floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Smith's resolution (H.Res. 243) calls on the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to immediately and unconditionally release political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, including Father Nguyen Van Ly and those who have been arrested in a recent wave of government oppression. The resolution also calls for the Government of Vietnam to comply with internationally recognized standards for basic freedoms and human rights.

H.Res. 243 passed the House by a vote of 404-0, with 3 members voting present.

In November 2006, pursuant to assurances that the human rights situation in Vietnam had improved dramatically, the U.S. State Department removed Vietnam from the list of "Countries of Particular Concern" so designated pursuant to the International Religious Freedom Act. Late last year, the United States Congress agreed to Vietnam becoming an official member of the World Trade Organization. Recently, the group of Asian countries at the United Nations has nominated Vietnam as the sole regional candidate for a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for 2008-2009.

"Despite this flurry of international recognition and tangible economic benefit, despite the hopes of many-including and especially the Vietnamese people-Vietnam has reverted back to its repressive practices and has arrested and imposed lengthy prison sentences on numerous individuals whose only crime has been to seek democratic reform and respect for human rights in their country," Smith said during House consideration of his resolution.

Earlier this year, the parish house of Father Ly -- a former prisoner of conscience who spent over 13 years in prison -- was raided. Father Ly was moved to a remote location and placed under house arrest. Father Ly is an advisor to "Block 8406" -- a democracy movement, which started last April -- and a new political party, the Vietnam Progression Party.

On March 30th, Father Ly was sentenced to 8 years in prison for distributing "anti-government" materials.

"I have been to Vietnam and have met with Father Ly and a number of other democracy advocates who are now behind bars or under constant surveillance and harassment in Vietnam. The intimidation and persecution of these peaceful activists must end. It is not enough for the Government of Vietnam to talk reform-they must also show progress through their deeds," Smith said.

Father Ly was among a number of dissidents swept up in a recent crackdown in Vietnam. Earlier this month, Vietnamese police arrested another member of "Block 8406," principal spokesperson for the Vietnam Progression Party and the founder of the Vietnamese Labor Movement, Le Thi Cong Nhan. On the same day - - March 6, 2007 -- Vietnamese police arrested one of Vietnam's few practicing human rights lawyers, Nguyen Van Dai.

A similar Smith-authored resolution condemning human rights abuses in Vietnam and calling on the Government of Vietnam to release political prisoners passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006.

Source: Office of U.S. Rep. Chris Smith