Australian Member of Parliament and Chief Opposition Whip Chris Hayes sent a letter to the Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to bring attention to the recent arrest of Vietnamese human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai.
The Hon Julie Bishop MP
Minister for Foreign Affairs
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
17 December 2015
Dear Minister
I write on behalf of the Australian Vietnamese community to bring to your urgent attention the recent arrest of Mr Nguyen Van Dai in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Mr Nguyen Van Dai, is a prominent Vietnamese lawyer who has been actively engaged in representing human rights activits that have fallen foul of the Vietnamese Government and its questionable judicial system.
On Wednesday, Mr Nguyen was arrested by Vietnamese authorities and charged under Article 88 of the Vietnamese Penal Code for “conducting propaganda against the state”, which carries a punishment of up to twenty years imprisonment. A week before his arrest, Mr Nguyen was brutally beaten by Vietnamese authorities disguised as thugs for leading a training forum for human rights defenders.
As one of the few practising human rights lawyers in Vietnam, Mr Nguyen is also the founder of the Committee for Human Rights which focuses on restoring justice and human rights to thoses that have been innocently persecuted in Vietnam. Therefore, this is not the first time Mr Nguyen has been targeted by the Vietnamese authorities and was previously imprisoned for four years in 2007 on similar charges for representing a Church and advocating for religious liberty. His legal licence to practice law was revoked at that time.
According to the UNHCR, Mr Nguyen’s recent incident is the third violent attack that has occurred on activistis in Vietnam since September. Vietnam has been heavily criticism for failing to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators.
Given Australia’s obligations under a number of international human rights treaties, I believe we have a moral responsibility to condemn human rights violantions wherever they occur.
Therefore, I respectfully request the Australian Government to take an active interest in this case.
Yours sincerely
Chris Hayes MP
Federal Member for Fowler
Chief Opposition Whip
