September 1, 2010
Viet Tan applauds the leadership of Representatives Loretta Sanchez, Zoe Lofgren, Ed Royce and Judy Chu for sponsoring H. Res 1515 and encourages all U.S. Members of Congress to lend their support for three prominent women democracy activists in Vietnam.
H. Res 1515 calls on the government of Vietnam to uphold and respect basic human rights by releasing three women democracy activists:
Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, a prolific journalist, novelist, and two time recipient of Human Rights Watch’s Hellman/Hammett award, has been imprisoned for nearly a year.
Pham Thanh Nghien, a cyber activist, outspoken advocate for Vietnamese territorial sovereignty and recipient of the Hellman/Hammett award, is in her second year of a four year prison sentence.
Le Thi Cong Nhan, a renowned human rights lawyer, was released in March 2010 after serving three years imprisonment. She is currently under house arrest.
These women are representatives of a growing movement for social justice and human rights in Vietnam. Their continued persecution by the government of Vietnam as it holds the chairmanship of ASEAN and a seat on the UN Security Council is in direct disregard to Hanoi’s international human rights obligations.
The introduction of H. Res 1515 came as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Vietnam’s communist leaders to respect political freedom. With the 2nd US-ASEAN Summit scheduled for September 24 in New York, this is a good time to call for the release of Thuy-Nhan-Nghien.
As part of the international campaign to Free Thuy-Nhan-Nghien, Viet Tan not only encourages the co-sponsorship and fast passage of this legislation, we also call upon all activists to lend their voice for these three prominent human rights defenders.
For more information, please visit http://www.viettan.org/Free-Thuy-Nhan-Nghien.
Contact : Duy Hoang +1.202.470.0845
