Congress of the United States
Washington, DC 20515
March 11, 2008
The Honorable George W. Bush
The President of the United States
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Bush,
We write to express our strong concerns regarding the arrest and detainment of United States citizen, Dr. Nguyen Quoc Quan, by the Government of Vietnam. Dr. Nguyen was arrested on November 17, 2007.
A letter to Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, dated December 10, 2007 was signed by eleven Members of Congress. This letter expressed our serious concerns regarding the detention of Nguyen Quoc Quan, especially considering Vietnam’s repeated history of human rights violations and unjustified detentions. We asked for an explanation of why Dr. Nguyen was being held in Vietnam and when he would be returned to his family in the United States.
The Government of Vietnam responded through a letter from Ambassador Le Cong Phung, dated December 14, 2007. The Government claimed that Dr. Nguyen, as a member of the Viet Tan Party, was arrested for trying to overthrow the Government of Vietnam. The information we have received indicates that Dr. Nguyen was merely distributing pro-democracy literature at the time of his arrest.
In addition, Mai Huong Ngo, the wife of Dr. Nguyen, has expressed an interest in traveling to Vietnam to visit her husband. The Government of Vietnam has inexplicably revoked Ms. Ngo’s visa in an apparent attempt to prevent her from visiting her husband in Vietnam.
Christopher Hill, Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the Department of State, visited Vietnam on March 2 and 3 in order to discuss the detainment of Dr. Nguyen as well as the visa status of Ms. Ngo with the Government of Vietnam. Promises were made by the Vietnamese Government to facilitate Ms. Ngo’s visit. However, as of the date of this letter, Dr. Nguyen has not been released and his wife’s visa has not yet been reinstated.
The detention of Nguyen Quoc Quan is just another incident in a long line of arrests and harassments by Vietnamese authorities who insist on disregarding religious and political rights that are indispensable to the observance of human rights. Previous human rights violations include the arrest and detention of Le Quoc Quan in March 2007 and the gagging of Father Nguyen Van Ly in order to prevent him from testifying at his own trial in March 2007. Upon being granted Permanent Normal Trade Relations and entrance into the World Trade Organization in January 2007, the Vietnamese Government promised to work to prevent such human rights violations from occurring in the future. Clearly Vietnam is not upholding this promise.
We believe that measures should be taken immediately by your administration in order to ensure that Dr. Nguyen Quoc Quan is released and allowed to return home to the United States. We hope that you will address this situation as well as the larger problem of human rights violations in Vietnam.
Sincerely,
