Human Rights Watch fires back against Hà Nội over the controversial Chuyện với Thanh arrests.
The Latest: Human Rights Watch (HRW) Asia director Elaine Pearson has publicly rejected claims that the organization is interfering in the national sovereignty and judicial processes of Việt Nam.
In an interview with Luật Khoa Magazine, Pearson defended the organization’s recent calls for the release of five individuals arrested in connection with a controversial book about the youth of Hồ Chí Minh.
The Interview: When asked about claims in an analysis from the Công an Nhân dân newspaper that human rights are being exploited for interference, Pearson clarified that HRW neither orders nor demands that governments take specific actions.
- “We don’t order governments to do anything, and we don’t interfere with judicial processes—we make recommendations. If you look at the wording of our press release, we are saying the Vietnamese government should drop the charges and release the five [in the Chuyện với Thanh case]. That’s not interference; that’s a recommendation based on compliance with international human rights law,” Pearson told Luật Khoa Magazine.
Addressing criticism that HRW should focus on human rights problems in the United States instead of “interfering” in Vietnamese affairs, Pearson noted that HRW operates globally in approximately 100 countries, including the U.S. She added that HRW published reports within the past month documenting rising deaths in U.S. immigration detention and allegedly abusive conditions at Camp East Montana, the country’s largest immigration detention facility.
- “Human rights groups and international organizations regularly make recommendations to governments on complying with international law,” Pearson said. She further stated those recommendations “should be something for any rights-respecting government to consider and engage with, not something they should shut down or paint as ‘interference.'”
In response to the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry’s July 23 statement dismissing the appeal from HRW, Pearson countered that Việt Nam should instead explain why it arrested the five people.
- “Why is a book about the life of Hồ Chí Minh, aimed at younger readers, a threat to national security?” she asked. “The book was initially celebrated by state media and subsequently has been condemned for supposedly distorting history. It speaks volumes about the Vietnamese government’s intolerance for any views that are a slight deviation from the official line,” Pearson stated.
The Background: On July 21, HRW issued a statement calling on Việt Nam to immediately and unconditionally drop the charges against five people arrested in connection with Chuyện với Thanh – Lời kể mới về ánh sáng (Story With Thanh: A New Account of the Light) and release them.
On July 23, when asked about Việt Nam’s position on HRW’s statement, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Phạm Thu Hằng said, “The so-called allegations by Human Rights Watch are not worth commenting on.”
- This position garnered support from numerous social media accounts and pages in Việt Nam, including Tifosi, Thực chứng, Tiếng nói Việt Nam, and Chống tin giả, tin xuyên tạc.
On July 24, Công an Nhân dân, the official newspaper of the Ministry of Public Security, published an analysis of HRW’s statement.
- It accused HRW of making “unreasonable political demands while the legal proceedings remain unfinished” and argued that the organization was using human rights advocacy to interfere in the judicial affairs of a sovereign country.
Why It Matters: Chuyện với Thanh presented an alternative account of Nguyễn Tất Thành—the name Hồ Chí Minh used in his youth.
- The book generated mixed reactions and faced a denunciation campaign initiated by individuals who previously attacked The Sorrow of War and an event regarding Trương Vĩnh Ký, including former soldier Phan Trung Can and Lt. Gen. Nguyễn Thanh Tuấn.
- The book was accused of “distorting history,” “insulting President Hồ Chí Minh,” and “insulting the Vietnamese nation.”
Five individuals are accused under Article 117 of Việt Nam’s Penal Code for “making, storing, disseminating, or propagandizing information, documents, or materials aimed at opposing the state.”
- State media announced the arrests of author Nguyễn Thành Nam and Spiderum director Trần Việt Anh on July 7.
- On July 15, Hà Nội police charged and detained three executives from the Writers’ Association Publishing House: director Nguyễn Thúy Hằng, editor-in-chief Đào Bá Đoàn, and editorial department head Nguyễn Văn Yên.
The Writers’ Association Publishing House stopped distributing the book, recalled existing copies, and issued an apology on June 10.
- On June 15, authorities fined the publishing house 100 million đồng and suspended it for two months for publishing what they described as “extremely serious false historical content.”
- Additionally, on July 15, the Press Authority announced that it penalized 23 news organizations and disciplined more than 30 people for publishing articles that “praised” the book.
Lê Sáng wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on July 27, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine has the copyrights to the English translation.
