FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 7, 2016
Contact: Duy Hoang +1.202.596.7951
Viet Tan is a pro-democracy organization working to promote social justice and human rights through nonviolent means. Our members inside Vietnam and around the world have worked with non-governmental organizations, elected officials, and civil society to increase political space for the Vietnamese people.
The Ministry of Public Security is regurgitating baseless propaganda that they have routinely used against peaceful voices. The Hanoi regime is especially fearful of organized opposition and seeks to deter Vietnamese from joining in peaceful political advocacy. To justify its human rights abuses, Hanoi has often portrayed critics as engaging in terrorism, subversion and social unrest.
In a 2013 decision, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled that the Hanoi government violated international law by arbitrarily detaining members of Viet Tan. Three of our members (Ho Duc Hoa, Dang Xuan Dieu, and Nguyen Dang Minh Man) are currently serving long prison terms for their blogging and community organizing.
The Vietnamese Communist Party has a long history of violence and terror against the people of Vietnam. No amount of propaganda can shift attention from Hanoi’s human rights abuses and repression of peaceful political opposition.
Viet Tan is committed to advocating for fundamental freedoms and we challenge the Vietnamese authorities to publish on state media the full range of Viet Tan’s activities to empower activists, promote internet freedom, and defend basic rights—and let the people of Vietnam decide whether Viet Tan is a threat.
###
