March 14, 2017
The 88 Project, March 13, 2017: “My daughter Minh Mẫn was beaten and wounded in prison, and she was held in solitary confinement in a stinky cell for 10 days.” Mrs. Đặng Ngọc Minh, mother of Minh Mẫn, shared in an interview with SBTN.
On March 12, 2017, on her Facebook, Mrs. Đặng Ngọc Minh wrote that Ms. Nguyễn Đặng Minh Mẫn was assaulted by another prisoner named Lan inside the prison; then the prison ward ordered Minh Mẫn to be sent to solitary confinement for 10 days.
Mrs. Đặng Ngọc Minh said: “In the visit on March 12, 2017, my husband called from Prison No. 5, Thanh Hóa province, to let me know that my daughter had been beaten, and she just got out from the disciplinary cell and looked thin and weak because of the harsh treatment she had received.”
Mr. Nguyễn Văn Lợi, father of Minh Mẫn, related: “When I saw Mẫn, Mẫn started telling me about the assault, then the officer interrupted and threatened to end our visit. She had been held in a dirty cell with a poor nutrition regime.”
Former POC Tạ Phong Tần, who used to be held in the same facility with Minh Mẫn, said that female political prisoners were held separately in Prison No. 5, Thanh Hóa. Nobody is allowed into the political prisoners section without the permission of the prison ward, even cantina and medical staff. She doubted that the stranger named Lan was a real prisoner.
Besides Tạ Phong Tần and Nguyễn Đặng Minh Mẫn, other female POCs such as Hồ Thị Bích Khương and Phạm Thị Lộc were held and mistreated in Prison No. 5. The solitary confinement section is very small, dirty, and foul smelling because of the lack of proper cleaning. Those who are disciplined in the section also have their legs cuffed. Some prisoners were infected because of the scratches caused by the leg cuffs.
POC Nguyễn Đặng Minh Mẫn, born 1985, a Catholic social activist, was arrested in a major crackdown in August 2011 and sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment and 5 years of probation in January 2013 under Art. 79 of the Criminal Code (“attempting to overthrow the people’s government”). She repeatedly went on hunger-strikes in 2014 to protest the ill-treatment in jail. She is due to be released in August 2019.
Source (Vietnamese): SBTN
Adapted and translated by The 88 Project
Source: The 88 Project
