GENEVA, 16 April 2003 (VCHR) – Speaking at the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, Mr. Vo Van Ai<\/b>, President of the Paris-based Vietnam Committee on Human Rights and Vice-President of the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), strongly condemned the recent wave of arrests of human rights defenders and dissidents in Vietnam. Over the past months, in a widespread assault on freedom of religion and expression, dozens of peaceful critics have been arrested and sentenced to harsh prison terms simply for circulating opposition views via the Internet or sending information abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cVietnam is systematically invoking charges of \u201cespionage\u201d to detain peaceful critics and stifle religious and political dissent\u201d<\/i> Vo Van Ai told the UN Commission. \u201cBy cynically suppressing the right to freedom of expression, Vietnam is flouting its responsibilities as a Member of the UN Commission on Human Rights and violating its international obligations as a state party to UN human rights covenants\u201d<\/i>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEspionage\u201d \u2013 Article 80 of the Vietnamese Criminal Code \u2013 is an extremely serious charge in Vietnam. Carrying sentences ranging from twelve years to the death penalty, it is one of a whole chapter of loosely-defined \u201cnational security\u201d<\/i> crimes which are routinely used to imprison dissidents and government critics. The UN Human Rights Committee at their 75th Session in July 2002 strongly condemned Vietnam\u2019s \u201ccatch-all\u201d national security legislation as being \u201cexcessively vague, and inconsistent with the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)\u201d<\/i>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many dissidents have been arrested and convicted of \u201cespionage\u201d simply for using the Internet to circulate their views. Mr. Ai condemned the recent re-arrest of prominent dissident Nguyen Dan Que<\/b> in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) on March 17, 2003. Dr Que, who has already spent 18 years in prison for advocating political reforms, was arrested outside his home as he allegedly prepared to send information overseas at an Internet caf\u00e9. He is charged under Article 80, and risks a very severe sentence. His family has had no access to him since his arrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prominent Communist Party veteran, former People\u2019s Army Colonel and respected military historian Pham Que Duong<\/b>, 71, is also detained for espionage under Article 80. Arrested on December 29, 2002, Pham Que Duong had been the victim of systematic harassment and Police surveillance since he turned in his Communist Party card in 1999, and applied to set up an independent anti-corruption association with dissident Tran Khu\u00ea in 2001. He applied to run as candidate in last year\u2019s National Assembly elections, but was turned down for being a \u201cdisrupting element\u201d<\/i>. Tran Khu\u00ea<\/b>, a scholar at the Ho Chi Minh Institute of Social Sciences, was also arrested on December 30, 2002 and is awaiting trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other \u201ccyber-dissidents\u201d detained in the crackdown include Nguyen Khac Toan<\/b>, condemned to 12 years in December 2002 for sending abroad peasants\u2019 complaints against State confiscation of land. He appealed against the sentence, but the appeal was overturned at a closed trial in Hanoi on 2nd April 2003. Le Chi Quang<\/b>, a 32-year-old lawyer, was condemned to four years in prison in October 2002 on charges of \u201cconducting propaganda against the State\u201d for advocating \u201cpluralism and a multiparty system\u201d<\/i> and the abolition of Article 4 of the Vietnamese Constitution (on the political mastery of the Vietnamese Community Party). Dr Pham Hong Son<\/b>, arrested in March 2002 for translating an article on democracy from the U.S. Embassy website, is also charged with \u201cespionage\u201d under Article 80. He is awaiting trial in B. 14 Prison near Hanoi. Religious prisoners include two nephews and niece of Father Nguyen Van Ly<\/b>, a Roman Catholic priest sentenced to 15 years prison in October 2001. The three face charges of espionage under Article 80 for providing information about their uncle to the outside world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr. Vo Van Ai also firmly condemned the twenty-one year detention without trial of Venerable Thich Huyen Quang<\/b>, Patriarch of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), and that of UBCV Deputy head, Thich Quang Do<\/b>. Thich Quang Do is currently held incommunicado at the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in Saigon for \u201ccrimes\u201d including launching an \u201cAppeal for Democracy in Vietnam\u201d<\/i> calling for democracy and political reforms<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He welcomed the unprecedented move made by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai who held a highly publicized meeting with Venerable Thich Huyen Quang<\/b> in Hanoi on April 2, 2003. The 86-year-old Patriarch was allowed out of house arrest for the first time in over two decades to undergo surgery in Hanoi on a feared cancerous growth. However, noted Mr. Ai, after the meeting Venerable Thich Huyen Quang was obliged to return to effective house arrest in Quang Ngai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moreover, after thousands of Buddhists gathered to welcome Venerable Thich Huyen Quang during a brief stop in the city of Hue on his way back from Hanoi, Security Police immediately cut off all the phone lines to Buddhist Pagodas in Hue and obliged Venerable Thich Huyen Quang to return at once to Quang Ngai. He is now back in the small hut near the Quang Phuoc Pagoda, Nghia Hanh district in the remote central province of Quang Ngai, where he has been held in internal exile since 1982. \u201cThe Government must immediately release Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang and Venerable Thich Quang Do\u201d<\/i>, said Mr. Ai. \u201cOtherwise, the meeting with Pham Van Khai will be seen as a purely cosmetic gesture aimed at placating the Buddhists and gaining favour with the international community\u201d<\/i>. He called on the UN to press for the UBCV leaders immediate release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n