Age: 60 years old
Activity: Religious freedom advocate
Date of arrest: July 2, 2011
Sentence: Sentenced to 3 years imprisonment on December 13, 2011
Charge: Abusing democratic freedoms (Article 258)
Current location: An Giang Province
Tran Hoai An is a member of the Hoa Hao Buddhist church, a sect which has been repressed by authorities. According to state media, he was arrested for possessing printed materials and CDs and DVDs criticizing the Vietnamese government’s religious record.
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.
Over the past two years, the level of repression under Communist Party Chief To Lam, who holds the rank of Police General, has increased in severity against both citizens within the country and individuals in the Vietnamese diaspora.
On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, Viet Tan wishes to highlight a troubling reality: there is no genuine press freedom in Vietnam. All authorized media outlets operate under the strict control of the communist regime and are subject to systematic censorship.
