Release terminally ill human rights defender Dinh Dang Dinh
Paris-Geneva,February 14, 2014. The Observatory for the Protection of Human RightsDefenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), together with the VietnamCommittee on Human Rights (VCHR), express deep concern over the health of humanrights defender Mr. Dinh Dang Dinh who is sufferingfrom terminal stomach cancer but remains under detention in hospital inVietnam.
Human rights defender and bloggerMr. Dinh Dang Dinh, who is currently serving a six-year sentence, isgravely ill. He is currently in the Oncology Hospital in Ho Chi Minh Citysuffering from terminal stomach cancer, which has now metastasised to his lymphnodes. His wife reports that his life may be “counted in days and hours,” andcalls on the Vietnamese government to release him immediately so he may dieamong his family and friends. The Vietnamese Government has not responded toher pleas.
Despite his life-threateningcondition, Mr. Dinh has been kept under surveillance since he was admitted tohospital last month, with policemen posted outside his room and a camerainstalled beside his bed to monitor him and his visitors. Ms. Dinh says thatthe family has to pay for all her husband’s medical expenses, including 250,000VND (US$ 12) per day for his bed in a room with three other patients.
Mr. Dinh Danh Dinh, born in 1963, isa former army officer and high school chemistry teacher. He has published manyonline articles protesting corruption, lack of democracy, and the negativeenvironmental impact of Bauxite mining in the Central Highlands, which isdestroying the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of ethnic minority people inthis region.
Mr. Dinh was arrested in October2011 and convicted in an unfair trial at the People’s Court in Dak Nong for “circulating propaganda against theSocialist Republic of Vietnam” (Article88 of the Criminal Code) and sentenced to six years in prison in August 2012.His conviction was upheld on appeal on November 21, 2012 in a trial that lastedonly 45 minutes. He began to suffer from stomach haemorrhage shortly after hisdetention, but was denied access to medical treatment. According to his wife,when he asked for medical treatment in 2012, not only was it denied, but also adozen camp officials beat and strangled him. He was admitted to hospital inDecember 2013.
In December 2013, Ambassadors of theEU, USA and 24 other countries wrote to the Vietnamese Government calling forMr. Dinh Dang Dinh’s release.
Mr. Dinh Dang Dinh has repeatedlyclaimed his innocence. Article 88 of the Criminal Code is one of severalvaguely-worded and repressive provisions in Vietnamese law that the governmenthas routinely used to criminalise free speech and imprison peaceful dissidents.
Our organisations strongly condemnthe crackdown that has been targeting human rights defenders, includingbloggers, in Vietnam over the past few years, and urge the Vietnameseauthorities to abide by the resolutions that were adopted by consensus in June2012 and March 2013 by the United Nations Human Rights Council on the right tofreedom of expression online and the protection of human rights defendersrespectively.
Our organisations urge the Vietnamese authorities to: release immediately and unconditionally Mr.Dinh Dang Dinh; ensure in allcircumstances that human rights defenders are able to work without any fear of reprisals; and conform to theUN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.