Age: 36 years old
Activity: Falun Gong practitioner
Date of arrest: June 11, 2010
Sentence: Sentenced to 2 years imprisonment on November 10, 2011
Charge: Illegally using information in computer networks (Article 226)
Current location: Unknown
From a farm outside of Hanoi, Le Van Thanh (and his brother-in-law Vu Duc Trung) operated a short-wave radio broadcast called Sound of Hope revealing human rights abuses in China. He was arrested even though Falun Gong is not explicitly banned in Vietnam.
On the occasion of the visit to France of Mr. Tô Lâm, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, from 9 to 11 September 2026, our organisations wish to call on you to make human rights an essential component of your discussions with the Vietnamese authorities.
On August 22, 2026, Facebook users in Vietnam found themselves unable to access several pages operated by Vietnamese opposition groups, independent media outlets, and activists abroad. The geo-blocked pages include Viet Tan, Thoibao.de, Nguyen Van Dai, Hue Nhu, and Chan Troi Moi Media.
As Vietnamese authorities intensify their efforts to silence critical voices beyond the country’s borders, the European Parliament hosted a conference dedicated to transnational repression carried out by the Hanoi regime.
Over the past several years, Vietnamese authorities have increasingly extended their mechanisms of control and repression far beyond the country’s borders. After unleashing an unprecedented wave of repression against citizen journalists, human rights defenders, and dissident voices inside Vietnam, the communist regime, under the leadership of General To Lam, is intensifying its actions against activists and opponents living abroad.
