Twelve international human rights organizations calls on Secretary John Kerry to take action to free human rights lawyer Le Quoc Quan. This call to action builds on previous appeals by these and other organizations to the UN Special Rapporteurs and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
June 17, 2013
The Honorable John Kerry
Secretary of State
2201 C St NW Ste 7276
Washington DC 20520S
Re: Mr. Le Quoc Quan and the Government of Viet Nam
Dear Mr. Kerry,
The signatory organisations respectfully request you to raise the issue of the unlawful arrest and detention of the prominent Vietnamese lawyer, blogger and human rights defender Mr. Le Quoc Quan with the Vietnamese Government.
We understand that you will attend the ASEAN conference later this month, and we sincerely hope that the opportunity will arise for you to discuss this matter with representatives of the Vietnamese Government.
As you may know, Mr. Quan is currently arbitrarily detained due to having exercised his right to freedom of expression, his right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, as well as his activities as a human rights defender.
Mr. Quan is a qualified lawyer and active blogger. On his popular blog, he exposes human rights abuses commonly ignored by Vietnamese state media. Prior to being disbarred in 2007, Mr. Quan defended human rights cases in court. Upon his return from the United States, he was arrested in 2007 and detained for 100 days. In April 2011, he was arrested again and ultimately released without charges. In August 2012, Mr. Quan was severely injured because of a violent attack, by – he believes – State agents. On 27 December 2012, Mr. Quan was arrested and charged for what he believes are false charges of ‘tax evasion’. He has been detained incommunicado for the first two months. At this moment, Mr. Quan is still imprisoned. His trial will take place on 9 July 2013.
More detailed information about Mr. Quan and the unlawful interference with his human rights is set forth in the attached Letter of Allegation, as recently sent by the signatory organisations to the Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations. Mr. Quan is on the list of the European Union of Prisoners of Concern.
International attention is of key importance to Mr.Quan. We do hope that you will seize the opportunity to request the Vietnamese Government to release him. It will hopefully result in the end of his current detention.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or need any additional information.
Yours sincerely,
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Media Defence – Southeast Asia
Media Legal Defence Initiative
National Endowment for Democracy
