Authoritarian Vietnam has stepped up an alarming crackdown on domestic dissent even as it seeks a seat on the UN Human Rights Council, Amnesty International says on 7 November. Vietnam is using a raft of draconian legislation to clamp down on a growing number of citizens who seek to question the party’s stranglehold on power. “Vietnam is fast turning into one of Southeast Asias largest prisons for human rights defenders and other activists” said Amnesty researcher Rupert Abbott to AFP.
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Posts Tagged ‘Le Quoc Quan’
Amnesty criticizes Vietnam with regard to HRDs, especially those using the internet
November 11, 2013Trial of Vietnamese human rights defender Le Quoc Quan set for 2 October
September 27, 2013In five days from now, on 2 October 2013, the People’s Court in Hanoi, Viet Nam, will hear the case of human rights defender Le Quoc Quan, who has been held in detention since 27 December 2012 and whose trial was postponed on 8 July 2013. Le Quoc Quan is a prominent lawyer, blogger and human rights defender. He has a long history of being targeted by the Vietnamese authorities in retaliation for his work. As a lawyer, he represented many victims of human rights violations, but was disbarred in 2007 on suspicion of engaging in “activities to overthrow the regime”. Le Quoc Quan also runs a blog http://lequocquan.blogspot.ie/ where he writes about various issues including civil rights, political pluralism and religious freedom. On 27 December 2012, Le Quoc Quan was arrested on trumped up allegations of tax evasion, was held incommunicado for the first two months and spent fifteen days on hunger strike. Currently the human rights defender remains imprisoned awaiting trial.
More information, please see update from 12 July 2013 http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/23255
Arbitrary detention of Vietnamese HRDs such as Le Quoc Quan
January 4, 2013The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), reports the arbitrary detention of Mr. Le Quoc Quan, a human rights lawyer and blogger.
On December 27, 2012, Mr. Le Quoc Quan was arrested by the police in Hanoi while dropping off his daughter at school. The police also searched his office and home and confiscated some documents. The police told his family that he would be charged under Article 161 of the Criminal Code, which relates to tax evasion. If condemned, he risks three years in prison and a heavy fine. Mr. Le Quoc Quan, who began a hunger strike on December 28, is currently detained incommunicado in Hoa Lo Prison No. 1. Neither his lawyer nor his family have been able to visit him to date.
Mr. Le Quoc Quan’s arrest follows a recent order by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung that authorities renew the fight against anyone using the Internet to “defame and spread propaganda against the State”.Mr. Le Quoc Quan has been harassed constantly since 2007 by the Vietnamese authorities because of his human rights activities. On October 3, 2012, some 50 security police and plain-clothed militia forced entry into the head office of VietNam Credit in Hanoi and its branch office in Saigon. The firm belongs to Mr. Le Quoc Quan and his two brothers. Police seized files and documents belonging to the firm, assaulted the staff and detained the brothers for interrogation. In addition, on August 18, 2012, Mr. Le Quoc Quan was brutally beaten by two unidentified men with iron bars outside his home in Hanoi.
The Observatory recalls that allegations of tax evasion have previously been levelled against human rights defenders. Blogger Nguyen Van Hai, alias Dieu Cay, founding member of the Club of Free Journalists, was initially jailed for tax evasion but then sentenced in September 2012 to 12 years in jail for spreading anti-State propaganda under Article 88 of the Criminal Code, along with two other bloggers and members of the Club of Free Journalists.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 