<html>
<body>
<h1><b>International Calls For Vietnam To Free Land Rights Activists As
Fifth, Teacher Le Trong Hung, Is
Jailed</b></h1><font size=5>
<a href="https://tlio.org.uk/international-calls-for-vietnam-to-free-land-rights-activists-as-fifth-teacher-le-trong-hung-is-jailed/" eudora="autourl">
https://tlio.org.uk/international-calls-for-vietnam-to-free-land-rights-activists-as-fifth-teacher-le-trong-hung-is-jailed/<br>
<br>
</a><b><i>See also NEW St George's Hill Diggers occupation maps<br>
</b><a href="https://tlio.org.uk/diggers-350-about/" eudora="autourl">
https://tlio.org.uk/diggers-350-about/<br><br>
</a></i></font><b>Vietnam jails fifth land rights activist and teacher Le
Trong Hung for social media posts<br>
</b>
<a href="https://tlio.org.uk/international-calls-for-vietnam-to-free-land-rights-activists-as-fifth-teacher-le-trong-hung-is-jailed/">
31 December 2021</a> <a href="https://tlio.org.uk/author/tony/">Tony
Gosling</a>
<a href="https://tlio.org.uk/international-calls-for-vietnam-to-free-land-rights-activists-as-fifth-teacher-le-trong-hung-is-jailed/#respond">
Leave a comment</a><br>
<a href="https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/359513">
https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/359513</a><br>
<br>
<b>Viet Nam: UN Experts Appalled By Conviction Of Four Human Rights
Defenders<br>
</b>
<a href="https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO2112/S00239/viet-nam-un-experts-appalled-by-the-conviction-of-four-human-rights-defenders.htm">
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO2112/S00239/viet-nam-un-experts-appalled-by-the-conviction-of-four-human-rights-defenders.htm</a>
<br>
<br>
<b>Vietnam: Free Land Rights Activists<br>
</b>
<a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/12/14/vietnam-free-land-rights-activists">
https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/12/14/vietnam-free-land-rights-activists</a>
<br>
<br>
Trinh Ba Phuong, Nguyen Thi Tam Face Long Imprisonment<br>
<br>
<img src="cid:7.0.1.0.1.20211231215946.08881f90@cultureshop.org.uk.0" width=615 height=346 alt="Emacs!">
<br>
<i>Photos of Nguyen Thi Tam (right) and Trinh Ba Phuong (left), wearing a
shirt that says “Human Rights” and carrying a sign that reads, “[You]
cannot rob human rights from us, the people!”<br>
</i> <br>
Update: On December 15, 2021, a Hanoi court sentenced Trinh Ba Phuong to
10 years in prison and five years of probation after his release. The
court sentenced Nguyen Thi Tam to six years in prison and three years of
probation after her release.<br>
<br>
(New York) – The Vietnamese authorities should immediately drop
politically motivated charges and release two land rights activists in
Hanoi, Human Rights Watch said today.<br>
<br>
Police arrested Nguyen Thi Tam and Trinh Ba Phuong in June 2020 for
having “prepared, published and disseminated video clips and writing with
distorted contents that sow confusion among the people in order to oppose
the State,” in violation of Article 117 of the Penal Code. A court in
Hanoi is scheduled to hear their cases on December 15, 2021. If
convicted, each faces up to 20 years in prison.<br>
<br>
“The Vietnamese government is using criminal law to intimidate and shut
down people peacefully protesting against land confiscation,” said Phil
Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The government
should release these two activists and all others arrested and imprisoned
under Article 117, and abolish this abusive law.”<br><br>
Article 117 of the Penal Code broadly prohibits “making, storing,
disseminating or propagandizing information, materials and products that
aim to oppose the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”<br>
<br>
In 2021 alone, at least 16 people – including the prominent independent
bloggers Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Tuong Thuy, and Pham Chi Thanh – have been
convicted and sentenced to prison for violating Article 117. Another 11
people, including the rights activist Nguyen Thuy Hanh, have been
arrested and are being held in pre-trial detention under that
article.<br>
<br>
Nguyen Thi Tam, 49, has protested against land confiscation in Hanoi’s
Duong Noi commune since the mid 2000s. In June 2008 she participated in a
public protest outside the People’s Committee of the then-Ha Tay
provincial headquarters. In November 2008 a court put Nguyen Thi Tam and
other villagers on trial for “resisting people on public duty,” convicted
her, and sentenced her to a suspended 12-month prison sentence.<br><br>
Trinh Ba Phuong, 36, comes from a family of land rights activists. Over
the past decade, he has joined his mother, Can Thi Theu, his father,
Trinh Ba Khiem, and younger brother, Trinh Ba Tu, in numerous protests
and campaigns in support of human rights, land rights, and environmental
protection. The authorities arrested his father in April 2014 during a
government land confiscation in Duong Noi for “resisting against those
who are on public duties,” under Article 257 of the Penal Code, and
imprisoned him for 14 months. His mother previously served two prison
terms – 15 months beginning in 2014 and 20 months in 2016.<br>
<br>
On the same day that Trinh Ba Phuong was arrested in Hanoi, the police in
Hoa Binh province also arrested his mother and brother on the same
charge. Prior to their arrests, the three family members were
instrumental in amplifying the voices of farmers at Hanoi’s Dong Tam
commune, where a police raid in January 2020 resulted in the deaths of an
84-year-old farmer, Le Dinh Kinh, and three policemen. Trinh Ba Phuong
was one of the authors of the “Dong Tam Report,” which shed light on the
violent land clash. In October 2020 the police arrested another author of
the Dong Tam Report, the prominent dissident Pham Doan Trang. A court in
Hanoi is scheduled to hear her case on November 4.<br>
<br>
In May, Trinh Ba Phuong’s mother and brother, Can Thi Theu and Trinh Ba
Tu, were each sentenced to eight years in prison. Upon being asked their
names at the trial, both said “my name is Victim of the Communist
[regime].” Both have appealed their verdicts. Recently, a family member
told Radio Free Asia that police allegedly beat Trinh Ba Tu during his
arrest in June 2020, sending him to the hospital for treatment of his
injuries.<br>
<br>
Both Trinh Ba Phuong and Trinh Ba Tu appear to have anticipated their
arrests. On the day they were arrested, pre-recorded videos were posted
on Facebook in which they expressed concern that they might be tortured
and killed by police. They asked supporters and family members to
publicly display their bodies if they were killed to expose the crimes
against them.<br>
<br>
In February 2020 the police newspaper labeled Nguyen Thi Tam, Trinh Ba
Phuong, Trinh Ba Tu, and Can Thi Theu “opposing reactionary” persons who
“collected and disseminated” news about the deadly Dong Tam commune
clash.<br>
<br>
“Land confiscation has become one of Vietnam’s most heated rights issues,
and the government’s repressive response has made the situation worse,”
Robertson said. “The government should recognize people’s rights to
protest and seek a fair and transparent process to negotiate adequate
compensation for losing land.”<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
</body>
</html>