Viet Tan Alert
August 22 2018
A Vietnamese blogger and human rights defender was physically attacked and received death threats according to family reports.
Tran Thi Nga, 40, was arrested in January 2017 and sentenced to nine years in prison for “conducting propaganda against the state”, a vague national security law frequently used to silence bloggers and government critics.
Nga has been placed in a cell with another prisoner known to be the most “infamous prisoner” in Gia Trung prison.
“I received a phone call from Nga who told me she was continuously attacked and received death threats,” her husband Phan Van Phong said on Facebook.
“Nga informed me that she has been terrorised multiple times, but she reassured me that she would not be beaten to death.”
Her husband has written a petition to Gia Trung prison authorities since then, requesting authorities for an urgent investigation into the incident.
Also known by her pen name Thuy Nga, Tran Thi Nga is a prominent advocate for migrants and victims of forced land removals. She documented incidents of police brutality on her Facebook and Youtube channel.
Many former prisoners of conscience have detailed their experiences behind bars, saying that placing common criminals in the same cell with political dissidents is a common tactic of intimidation used by Vietnamese authorities.
