Pro-democracy blogger Dieu Cay is on hunger strike

Mr. Dieu Cay, prominent blogger and founder of the “Club of FreeJournalists of Vietnam”, well known for his online writings calling for greaterrespect for human rights and democratic reforms, is currently detained inPrison Camp No. 6 in Thanh Chuong District, Nghe An Province in Central VietNam. On July 16, 2013, Ms. Duong Thi Tan, the former wife of Mr. Dieu Cay, wentto visit him in prison, but was refused the right to see him. A senior prisonofficial (Lt.-Colonel of Security Police) told her that Mr. Dieu Cay wascurrently being punished for “disturbingorder”. Mrs. Nguyen Thi Nga, the wife of political prisoner Mr. Nguyen XuanNghia, who is detained in the same prison camp, visited her husband the sameday and asked for news of Mr. Dieu Cay. Prison wardens immediately intervenedand ordered her not to discuss this “sensitivequestion”. As she was about to leave, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Nghia shouted out “Did you know that Dieu Cay has been onhunger strike for the past 25 days?”.Wardens swiftly gagged him and dragged him away.

Our organisations are extremelyconcerned for the health of Mr. Dieu Cay. Prison Camp No. 6 has no adequatemedical facilities, and it is situated in a remote, mountainous region some 70kilometres from Vinh, the nearest town. If Mr. Dieu Cay’s health suffers as aresult of a prolonged hunger strike, he would not have access to urgent medicaltreatment.

“Mr. Dieu Cay has persistently claimed his innocence, but he found nojustice in Viet Nam’s legal system”,said VCHR President Vo Van Ai. “So he is speaking out in the only way aprisoner can - by putting his own safety on the line in an act of nonviolentprotest. His detention is shameless and unlawful - Viet Nam should set him free”.

“Mr. Dieu Cay’s situationillustrates the widespread international and domestic protest over an ongoinggovernment crackdown on freedom of expression, both online and offline”deplored FIDH President Karim Lahidji. “We call for the immediate andunconditional release of Dieu Cay and of all human rights defenders andcyber-dissidents in Viet Nam”.

“Atlast, the authorities of Viet Nam should abide by the opinion issued by the United Nations Working Groupon Arbitrary Detention in 2009, declaring Mr. Dieu Cay’s arbitrary and in violation of international humanrights law, by immediately releasing him”, urged OMCT Secretary GeneralGerald Staberock. “It is high time that the authorities of VietNam finally put an end to their crackdown on Internet activists andhuman rights defenders in the country as a way to silence critical voices”.

Scores of human rights defenders andcyber-dissidents are currently serving long prison sentences or awaiting trialin Vietnam[1].Three bloggers, Dinh Nhat Uy, Pham Viet Dao and Truong Duy Nhat, arrested in the past two months alone, face prisonsentences of up to seven years for “abusingdemocratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State” (Article 258 of the Criminal Code).Their blogs are aimed at informing people about human rights and advocatingways to promote and protect them. On May 16, 2013, University student Ms. Nguyen Phuong Uyen, 21, and Mr. Dinh Nguyen Kha, 25 (the brother ofDinh Nhat Uy) were sentenced respectively to six and eight years in prison andthree years house arrest for advocating for human rights.

Mr. Dieu Cay was first convicted in2009 on trumped-up charges of “tax evasion” after a manifestly unfair andclosed trial. Instead of being released upon completing the sentence in 2010,Mr. Dieu Cay was charged with a second offence of “propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” (Article 88of the Criminal Code). Article 88 is among several repressive provisions inVietnamese law that are routinely used to criminalise free speech and imprisonpeaceful dissidents. He was detained incommunicado for over a year. In late2011, Mr. Dieu Cay staged a 29-day hunger strike to protest his unfairdetention.

On September 24, 2012, he was sentencedto 12 years in prison and five years probationary detention at a trial in HoChi Minh City that broadly violated fair trial standards and was widelycondemned by the international community. The verdict was upheld on appeal inDecember 2012.

Our organisations strongly condemnthe crackdown that has been targeting Internet activists and human rightsdefenders in Viet Nam for the past few years, and urge the authorities of VietNam to abide by the resolution that was adopted by consensus in June 2012 bythe UN Human Rights Council, affirming that the right to freedom of expressiononline must be protected, and calling on States to “promote and facilitateaccess to the Internet”.

Our organisations further reiterate their call on theVietnamese authorities to ensure in all circumstances that human rights defenders are able to work without any fear of reprisals and to conform tothe UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

[1] For more information, seeFIDH-VCHR joint report, Bloggers and Netizens Behind Bars: Restrictions onInternet Freedom in Vietnam, February 2013, and previous UrgentInterventions by the Observatory (FIDH-OMCT) on Viet Nam.