FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 7, 2018
Viet Tan is pleased to announce Tran Thi Nga as the recipient of the inaugural Le Dinh Luong Human Rights Award. A blogger and social activist, Tran Thi Nga was sentenced to 9 years in prison and 5 years house arrest on July 25, 2017.
The Human Rights Award was established in 2018 and named after Le Dinh Luong, a human rights defender and advocate for environmental justice. Le Dinh Luong was sentenced to 20 years in prison in August 2018. The annual award aims to highlight the achievements of the many individuals and organisations who are tirelessly advocating for human rights and raise awareness about the human rights violations in Vietnam.
The Award Presentation will occur in January 2019.
About Tran Thi Nga
In the early 2000s, Tran Thi Nga moved to Taiwan to work as a laborer. While in Taiwan, she was involved in a traffic accident that sent her to a hospital and into recovery for three years. While recovering, she educated herself on labor laws and human rights. Upon her return to Vietnam in 2008, Nga started her social activism by defending abused labourers and women who had been trafficked overseas.
Since 2011, Tran Thi Nga’s activism has included:
- Protesting against Chinese aggression
- Supporting movements to protect Hanoi’s trees
- Demanding independent investigations into the Formosa environmental disaster
- Speaking up against police brutality
- Preventing the execution of unfair death sentences
Tran Thi Nga has been the victim of countless attacks of police brutality and arbitrary detention. Right before her arrest she said:
If I am arrested or killed by police today, don’t worry for me but use me as a brick to pave the road and continue the fight.
Vietnamese authorities arrested her on January 21, 2017. On July 25, 2017 the People’s Court in Ha Nam province sentenced Tran Thi Nga to 9 years prison and 5 years house arrest for “conducting propaganda against the state” under Article 88 of the Penal Code.