Viet Tan has learned that writer Tran Khai Thanh Thuy and her husband, Do Ba Tan, were attacked by undercover police in Vietnam. At about 8:30pm on Thursday, October 8, 2009, two thugs stormed into their residence in Hanoi (Kham Thien ward, Dong Da district). The thugs beat the couple with bricks and threatened to stick them with AIDS-infected needles.
About an hour later (9:30pm) uniformed police entered the home and took the couple away. It is believed that they are currently being held at the public security station in Kham Thien ward in Hanoi. Their only child, a 13-year old daughter, is currently at home alone and terrified after witnessing the attack on her parents.
Earlier on Thursday, Tran Khai Thanh Thuy was stopped on her way to Hai Phong, where six Vietnamese democracy activists are currently being tried for “propaganda against the socialist state.” Thuy intended to join family and supporters of the defendants outside the courthouse in Hai Phong.
Police forcibly took Thuy back to Hanoi and ordered her to stay indoors indefinitely. Thuy had been home for a few hours when the thugs and later uniformed police entered her home.
On Wednesday (October 7th), Thuy was outside the courthouse in Hanoi for the trial of teacher Vu Hung. Tran Khai Thanh Thuy is a well-known novelist and human rights activist. She was jailed for nine months in 2008 for organizing protests against government corruption.
Police have declined to answer whether Thuy and her husband were detained.
Contact information for the public security bureau of Kham Thien ward:
103 Kham Thien, Dong Da district, Hanoi
Commander Nguyen Ba Ninh
Office: +84 4 38512750, mobile: +84 903 224744
For updates on the status of Tran Khai Thanh Thuy and the political trials this week, please visit www.viettan.org.
