November 23, 2007
On November 19, 2007, Viet Tan issued an alert that Vietnamese security police detained six individuals in Saigon on November 17th including:
Three Viet Tan members
• Dr. Nguyen, Quoc Quan, American citizen
• Ms. Nguyen, Thi Thanh Van, French citizen
• Mr. Truong, Leon (Van Ba), American citizen
Three other individuals
• Mr. Nguyen, The Vu, Vietnamese citizen
• Mr. Nguyen, Trong Khiem, Vietnamese citizen
(note the earlier press release incorrectly stated his name as Nguyen, The Khiem)
• Mr. Khunmi, Somsak, Thai citizen
The following day, November 20th, Vietnamese security police arrested Nguyen Viet Trung, a Vietnamese citizen, in Phan Thiet. Born 1979, Nguyen Viet Trung is a businessman and younger brother of Nguyen The Vu. Mr. Trung is a young Vietnamese professional with a desire to see his country advance socially and politically.
Along with detaining Nguyen Viet Trung, police threatened and interrogated other members of the Nguyen The Vu family. These terror tactics have cast a climate of fear over the entire extended family.
Meanwhile, the communist authorities stonewalled in answering the inquiries of the American and French embassies. Only until November 22, five days after the arrests, did Hanoi publicly acknowledge detaining Leon Truong, Nguyen Thi Thanh Van and Somsak Khunmi while avoiding any mention of the arrest of Nguyen Quoc Quan, an American citizen, and that of three Vietnamese citizens: Nguyen The Vu, Nguyen Trong Khiem and Nguyen Viet Trung
The fact that the Hanoi government initially chose to keep silent about the crackdown and still denies four of the arrests causes grave concern for the personal safety of all the individuals under detention. In particular, we hold the communist authorities responsible for the well-being of Nguyen Quoc Quan and the three Nguyen The Vu brothers. All the individuals arrested were merely engaging in the peaceful expression of their beliefs, namely the need to empower the Vietnamese populace and to promote democratic change through nonviolent means.
In the last several days, many members of Congress, parliamentarians, human rights groups, and Vietnamese living inside and outside the country have protested this blatant abuse of human rights by the Hanoi government. Viet Tan would like to express our heartfelt appreciation. Viet Tan also expresses our admiration for the courageous families of the political prisoners. Their courage and determination is an example for all Vietnamese desiring to see a better future for their homeland.
In respect to the current situation, Viet Tan respectfully calls on:
• All Vietnamese and friends from around the world to join a global campaign (“Free Them Now”) to demand the immediate release of the seven pro-democracy activists arrested on November 17 & 20, 2007; and to join rallies worldwide on December 10th—the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—to show solidarity with all political prisoners in Vietnam.
• All Vietnamese and friends from around the world to lobby the international community to support the imprisoned democracy activists, especially those carrying Vietnamese citizenship and thus most at risk of punishment at the hands of the Hanoi communist authorities.
• The embassies of the United States, France and Thailand to continue insisting on immediate and regular visits with the citizens of these countries, and to request that the Hanoi government permit relatives of the political prisoners to travel to Vietnam and visit with their loved ones.
Contact:
Duy Hoang +1 (202) 470-1678
Chi Dang +1 (408) 228-4892
