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A court in Hanoi is scheduled to try blogger and asylum seeker Duong Van Thai on Oct. 30 in a trial closed to the public. Thai was allegedly abducted by security agents in April 2023 in Thailand and forcibly brought back to Vietnam. His mother, Duong Thi Lu, told Radio Free Asia (RFA) that she received the information after visiting her son on Oct. 11 at the Hanoi Police Department’s B14 Detention Center.
Lu said she talked to Thai on the phone through two thick layers of glass partition. Two police officers monitored their conversation, each sitting next to her and her son, and both of the police officers told them that Duong Van Thai’s trial date would be Oct. 30. However, no more details were elaborated by the officers.
The officers also told Lu that the family would not be allowed inside the courtroom. Thai faces charges under Article 117 of the Penal Code, which criminalizes “the distribution of anti-state propaganda to oppose the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.” The blogger faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted.
RFA also verified a court notice dated Oct. 9, signed and stamped by Justice Tran Nam Ha of the Hanoi People’s Court. The notice says the trial will occur at 8.30 a.m. at the Hanoi People’s Court. Le Dinh Viet and Le Van Luan, the attorneys Thai’s family hired as his defense lawyers, said they have not been able to access the indictment of their client because the court has yet to approve their license to defend the case.
A few days after Duong Van Thai went missing near his home in Pathum Thani Province, Thailand, Vietnamese police declared that they found him “illegally crossing the border into Vietnam from Laos” and initially charged him with illegal immigration.
However, human rights activists and those close to Thai believed that his disappearance was a result of the Vietnamese government’s transnational repression of critics of the regime. The 42-year-old blogger was granted refugee status by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangkok in 2019. He had an interview regarding his resettlement a few days before he was reported missing.
A Facebook user from Bao Loc City in Lam Dong Province has received a 5 million dong ($200) fine under a cybersecurity decree for declaring on his social media account that he spotted Buddhist monk Thich Minh Tue resuming his pilgrimage in the area. Thich Minh Tue, a walking monk who caused a sensation on social media due to the ascetic and peaceful nature of his journey, mysteriously disappeared from public view after police detained him and his followers and took them to an unknown location when they passed through Thua Thien-Hue Province last June. However, state media reported that Tue “voluntarily ceased his pilgrimage.”
On Oct. 10, the Department of Cybersecurity and High-Tech Crime Prevention of the Lam Dong Provincial Police announced they had fined a social network user whose name is written in initials as B.N.H.S. The police said that on Sept. 17, the Facebook user posted several videos and articles about some monks wearing clothes similar to that of Thich Minh Tue, walking and begging for alms. A screenshot of his posting showed the description, “Master Minh Tue is heading to Bao Loc City. He is slowly walking in a thunderstorm.”
According to state media, the postings of S. had attracted public attention, causing many internet users to share the details and to call for others to search for Thich Minh Tue’s exact location. The cybersecurity department has deemed the information “false” and intended to “cause confusion among the public.” It also summoned the social media user for questioning and told him not to share similar information again.
However, the punishment of internet users accused of spreading false information points to a bigger picture concerning freedom of religion in Vietnam. The lack of information regarding the whereabouts of Thich Minh Tue, who declared himself a practitioner unaffiliated with any state churches, and the government’s prohibition of independent religious practices have led many people to seek alternative sources of information, mostly from social media platforms.
On July 1, Le Anh Thin, the monk’s younger brother, sent a missing person report to Gia Lai Provincial Police to inquire about his whereabouts. On July 12, Thin told the media that his brother “had returned and resumed his pilgrimage” after disappearing for a month. However, the exact location of Thich Minh Tue remains unknown. At the same time, many social media users expressed concerns over his safety and asked whether or not he was allowed to practice his religion freely.
Y Quynh Bdap, a Vietnamese Montagnard seeking political asylum in Thailand, was convicted in an absentia trial and sentenced to 10 years for the June 11, 2023 armed attack in Dak Lak Province, has been fighting Vietnam's attempt to have him extradited to serve his sentence in his home province. The last hearing on Y Quynh Bdap’s extradition was held on Sept. 30, 2024 where the request was granted with a 30-days-stay so that he could file his appeal.
One of Y Quynh Bdap’s four lawyers and other leaders from different civil society organizations in Thailand held a live press conference at the country's Foreign Correspondents' Club in Bangkok on Oct. 9 to bring attention to the possible extradition of Bdap. The group urged the Thai government to consider the principle of non-refoulement before deciding whether to approve his return.
Speakers at the conference included Nadthasiri Bergman, lawyer for Y Quynh Bdap, from Human Rights Lawyers Association (“HRLA"), Prakaidao Phruksakasemsuk and Krittaporn Semsantad, program directors at Cross Cultural Foundation (“CrCF”) and Peace Rights Foundation (“PRF") respectively, and Phil Robertson, director at Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates (“AHRLA").
At the conference, Bergman declared that the evidence Vietnam used to prosecute Y Quynh Bdap on “terrorism” charges was based on the testimonies of three individuals who were accused of taking part in the attacks of two government headquarters in Dak Lak Province in June 2023. She added that Bdap had denied that he orchestrated the offensive from abroad and called on Thai authorities to follow the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment that Thailand ratified because her client could face mistreatment if returned to Vietnam.
At the same time, Bdap’s lawyer said she will appeal the court’s decision after they receive the complete judgment. She added that the activist will not be extradited after a 30-day period if they request an extension to submit their appeal. Bergman argued that her client is a recognized political refugee by the United Nations. Bdap was arrested one day after meeting with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees regarding resettlement. Bergman said that Bdap’s refugee status has never been revoked, so he is still a legitimate asylum seeker and could not be returned to Vietnam.
Robertson, director of AHRLA, claimed that Thailand could damage its reputation if it approves Hanoi’s repatriation request, especially when the country recently got elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2025-2027 term on Oct. 9, 2024. Robertson mentioned that Human Rights Watch had documented systemic and pervasive beatings and torture of prisoners in police detention in Vietnam, which sometimes resulted in inexplicable deaths.
Human Rights Watch delivered an oral speech at the UN Human Rights Council on Sept. 27, pointing out Vietnam’s lack of improvements in human rights and its failure to ratify International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No.87 on labor and assembly rights. The statement called Hanoi’s pledges to improve its rights record “empty promises” as the country rejected crucial recommendations made by member states of the UNHRC during the fourth cycle of its Universal Periodic Review. Vietnam approved 271 out of 320 recommendations from 133 countries.
The rejected recommendations included a call on the country to stop discrimination of religious followers by forcing them to renounce their faiths and another to abolish or amend restrictive Articles 117 (distributing anti-state propaganda) and 331 (abusing democratic freedoms) in the Penal Code. The government responded that religious adherents “voluntarily” abandoned their beliefs and called these religions “evil” faiths. On the other hand, Vietnam is holding at least 171 political prisoners as of September 2024, many charged under the above mentioned articles for simply exercising their rights.
HRW expressed disappointment over Vietnam's persecution of individuals due to their cooperation with the United Nations and its special rapporteurs on human rights. Although Hanoi denied the accusations and said it “did not reflect the reality in Vietnam,” such repression has been thoroughly documented and reported. The Southeast Asian country also refused to establish an independent national human rights institution under the Paris Principles, the statement added, further arousing skepticism over its commitment to uphold international rights and ensure freedom of expression, association, and assembly for all citizens.
General Secretary and President To Lam hailed the relationship with China as a “top priority” in Hanoi’s foreign policy strategy during a welcoming ceremony for Premier Li Qiang’s three-day state visit to Vietnam beginning on Oct. 12. Besides hackneyed speeches and compliments, To Lam and Li Qiang agreed to bolster economic cooperation, ensure a smooth border trade on agricultural products, and promote railroad connectivity in the framework of “Two Corridors, One Belt” and Beijing-sponsored “Belt and Road Initiative.”
The leaders of Vietnam and China have discussed and signed agreements on planning and viability research for constructing railroads connecting both countries to boost trade and commercial activities. According to Reuters, bilateral trade now relies on the only rail route linking the southern Chinese province of Yunnan to Hanoi and the port city of Hai Phong, constructed more than a century ago during the French colonial period. A lack of rail connectivity is an obstacle to bilateral trade promotion, which now stands at $148.2 billion in the first three quarters of this year.
In another meeting between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Li Qiang, the two countries signed 10 different agreements that span agriculture, cross-border payment, railroad planning, and other deals regarding the development of human resources and a memorandum of cooperation between Vietnam News Agency and China Central Radio and Television. Analysts told the South China Morning Post that Li’s trip also offered both sides a chance to rebuild their relations after Chinese maritime law enforcement reportedly assaulted Vietnamese fishermen and took away their equipment near the contested Paracel Islands.
Maj. Gen. Hoang Anh Tuyen, a public security spokesperson, said at a regular news conference that the police have issued more than 3.17 million national identity cards for children under the age of six and collected more than 1,500 pieces of voice data and more than 260 DNA samples between July 1 and Oct. 7, three months after a new Law on Identity Cards came into force in the beginning of July. Furthermore, Tuyen revealed that his ministry had registered over four million ID cards for children between six and 14 years old. This new law, nevertheless, has raised public concerns over the misuse of residents’ data for potential surveillance purposes and the risks of breaches involved since the data is centrally stored and managed by the police.
The Ministry of Public Security has issued a new document, Circular 46/2024/TT-BCA, that further restricts citizens’ right to supervise the misconduct of traffic police. The new circular declares the abolition of a regulation that enables citizens to record and film the activities of traffic police on duty. The traffic police are believed to be very corrupt and often pull drivers over and ask for bribes. The Public Security Ministry decided to scrap this rule because many citizens have taken advantage of their right to supervise traffic police and “cause difficulties for law enforcement personnel and affect the effectiveness of their duties.”
Asia Times/ Gabriel Honrada/ Oct. 10
“Vietnam has quietly ramped up its military presence in the South China Sea, matching China’s island-building tactics to assert its territorial claims in the hotly contested maritime area.
This month, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Vietnam has rapidly expanded its presence in the contested Spratly Islands, with high-resolution satellite imagery showing a tenfold increase in artificial land in the area over the last three years.
The WSJ report mentions that Vietnam’s expansion includes the construction of harbors, defensive trenches and potentially extended runways for military use. It notes that Vietnam’s actions mirror China’s, which previously built artificial islands equipped with observation towers, runways and other military infrastructure to assert dominance in the region.”
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It has become widely recognized that the Vietnamese government is steadily eroding the right to free speech and expression. This
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