24 July 2015
H.E Mr Nguyen Tan Dung
Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
c/o Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
6 Timbarra Crescent
O’MALLEY ACT 2606
Dear Prime Minister,
I write to bring to your attention regarding three human rights defenders who remain detained by the Vietnamese government. Ho Duc Hoa, Dang Xuan Dieu and Nguyen Dang Minh Man have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms and for allegedly “Carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the People’s Government” under Article 79 of the Penal Code.
Their detention has been deemed arbitrary by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and their prison terms reflect the human rights violations occurring in Vietnam. I am also concerned about their health and state of being. The detainees have held several hunger strikes during their incarceration to protest the ill-treatment they have received while in detention.
| respectfully request you to release Ho Duc Hoa, Dang Xuan Dieu and Nguyen Dang Minh Man and honour your commitments to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which Vietnam is a signatory.
| look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely,