Dear Sir:

I would like to draw your attention to the recent arrest of Pham Doan Trang, a prominent dissident writer and blogger advocating for human rights, democracy, press freedom and the rule of law in Vietnam. She has been held incommunicado in an undisclosed location.

In 2014, she was granted a scholarship to study for a year in the U.S. At the end of her studies, although it would not be difficult for her to seek political refugee status and stay in the U.S. to live a free and comfortable life, she chose to return in Vietnam to continue her fight for human rights. Not long after returning to her homeland, the Front Line Defenders described that “she walks with a pronounced and permanent limp caused by an injury she suffered when attacked by security forces during an environmental protest in Hanoi in April 2015.” In fact, that incident was only one of many other instances of harassment, persecution, and physical assault by Vietnamese authorities in recent years.

Despite brutal oppression, she wrote several books, including one entitled Politics for Everyone, to promote democracy, human rights and citizens’ rights in Vietnam.

In recognition of her work, in 2018 she was given the Homo Homini Award by the Czech-based human rights organization People in Need. In 2019, Reporters without Borders awarded her the Press Freedom Prize for Impact. She is also a writer and spokeswoman for the Liberal Publishing House, which received the “Prix Voltaire de l’ Union Internationale des Editeurs (UIE)” in 2020.

Following the crackdown and extremely severe sentencing of Dong Tam farmers by Vietnamese authorities, Ms. Trang and a fellow blogger, Will Nguyen, wrote a 128-page report in which she and Mr. Nguyen provided meticulously documented details of this incident. To muzzle her and deter any opposition from her and others to the regime, Vietnamese authorities arrested her on October 6, 2020, and charged her with “propaganda against the State” under Article 117 of the penal code, an offence that carries a jail term of long as 20 years.

Even though this courageous and persevering political dissident, in a letter written in May 2019 (attached) with the intention that it should be made public in the event of her arrest, firmly stated, “Don’t try to free me. Free my country”, Amnesty International, Human Right Watch, Reporters Without Borders, Committee to Protect Journalists and other pro-human rights organizations request her immediate and unconditional release.

“Governments around the world and the UN must prioritize her case, speak out loudly and consistently on her behalf, and demand her immediate and unconditional release,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

In view of the above serious human rights violations of Ms. Trang’s “freedom of expression”, and also since Ms. Trang has been brutally assaulted by the security police before, we urge you to give directives to the Canadian Embassy in Hanoi to follow up and visit her regularly in prison to ensure that she’s not mistreated by the Vietnamese authorities and that due process is followed as per the United Nations’ International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights if ever she is put on trial.

On behalf of Canadian Youth for Human Rights in Vietnam (CYHRV), I urge you to act promptly and swiftly in this case.

Awaiting a response from you, I remain

Yours sincerely,

Khue-Tu Nguyen, M.D.
President, Canadian Youth for Human Rights in Vietnam (CYHRV)

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References

https://news.yahoo.com/pham-doan-trang-vietnam-arrests-135509279.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-dissident-jailed-in-vietnam-shares-her- message-dont-free-me-free-my-country/2020/10/08/b68fa878-098e-11eb-859b- f9c27abe638d_story.html