<\/p>\n
On the 8th anniversary of the arrest of POC Tr\u1ea7n Hu\u1ef3nh Duy Th\u1ee9c \u2013 and half way through his 16-year prison sentence \u2013 the Directors of 12 Amnesty International offices call for his immediate and unconditional release. The letter also calls on Viet Nam\u2019s prison authorities to ensure that their treatment of Tr\u1ea7n Hu\u1ef3nh Duy Th\u1ee9c adheres strictly, as a minimum, to the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules) so that he is treated with dignity and respect while he is incarcerated.<\/strong><\/p>\n Ref: TG ASA 41\/2017.002 Index: ASA 41.6234.2017 19 May 2017<\/p>\n Your Excellency<\/p>\n RE: OPEN LETTER ON TR\u1ea6N HU\u1ef2NH DUY TH\u1ee8C<\/p>\n We are writing to draw your attention to the situation for Tr\u1ea7n Hu\u1ef3nh Duy Th\u1ee9c, who is currently serving a 16-year prison sentence at Prison No 6 in Nghe An province.<\/p>\n Tr\u1ea7n Hu\u1ef3nh Duy Th\u1ee9c, a successful entrepreneur and advocate for social and economic reform, has been imprisoned since 24 May 2009, when he was arrested on charges of \u201ctheft of telephone lines\u201d. Authorities later initiated a criminal investigation under Article 88 of Viet Nam\u2019s 1999 Penal Code for \u201cconducting propaganda against the state,\u201d but subsequently charged him with \u201cattempting to overthrow the people\u2019s administration\u201d under Article 79. On 20 January 2010, Tr\u1ea7n Hu\u1ef3nh Duy Th\u1ee9c was tried, convicted and sentenced to 16 years\u2019 imprisonment with five years\u2019 house arrest on release. His trial fell short of international standards for fair trial, disregarding the presumption of innocence and right to a defence. The prosecution provided no evidence to support the indictment. According to observers, the judges deliberated for only 15 minutes before returning with the judgment, which took 45 minutes to read, suggesting it had been prepared in advance of the hearing.<\/p>\n Amnesty International considers him to be a prisoner of conscience, held solely for peacefully exercising his human right to freedom of expression in his writing and his calls for peaceful social and economic reform. We therefore urge that he be immediately and unconditionally released, and his conviction quashed.<\/p>\n As Tr\u1ea7n Hu\u1ef3nh Duy Th\u1ee9c reaches the half-way point of his sentence, we are particularly concerned that he is held in conditions that do not meet international standards and that are negatively affecting his health and well-being. During the course of his imprisonment, he has been transferred several times, without prior notice to his family, who have to travel long distances to visit him. Rule 59 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules), adopted unanimously by the UN General Assembly in December 2015 and provides that \u201cPrisoners shall be allocated, to the extent possible, to prisons close to their homes or their places of social rehabilitation.\u201d<\/p>\n In his current location \u2013 Prison No. 6 \u2013 he is not provided with enough light in his cell when the electricity is switched off every morning so that he can read and write comfortably. Rule 14(a) of the Nelson Mandela Rules provides that \u201cThe windows shall be large enough to enable the prisoners to read or work by natural light and shall be so constructed that they can allow the entrance of fresh air whether or not there is artificial ventilation.\u201d Rule 14(b) provides that \u201cArtificial light shall be provided sufficient for the prisoners to read or work without injury to eyesight.\u201d Yet prison officials have refused to either improve the situation themselves or allow his family to provide artificial lighting in the form of a small battery-run lamp. As a consequence, his eyesight is badly affected, a condition for which hehas received no examination or treatment in the prison. Other rights to which he should be entitled have also been denied by the prison authorities, such as the transmission of letters between him and his family and access to reading material, in breach of Rules 58(1) and 64 of the Nelson Mandela Rules, respectively. He has also been threatened with reprisals for speaking up for the human rights of other prisoners.<\/p>\n We call on Viet Nam\u2019s prison authorities to ensure that their treatment of Tr\u1ea7n Hu\u1ef3nh Duy Th\u1ee9c adheres strictly, as a minimum, to the Nelson Mandela Rules so that he is treated with dignity and respect while he is incarcerated.<\/p>\n Finally, we urge once more that Tr\u1ea7n Hu\u1ef3nh Duy Th\u1ee9c and all other prisoners of conscience in Viet Nam are immediately and unconditionally released. As a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Viet Nam must respect and protect the human right to freedom of expression. By imprisoning people like Tr\u1ea7n Hu\u1ef3nh Duy Th\u1ee9c, who has done nothing but express his opinions peacefully, Viet Nam is failing in its obligations under international human rights law.<\/p>\n Yours sincerely<\/p>\n Claire Mallinson Shamini Darshni Sylvie Brigot-Vilain Altantuya Batdorj Markus N. Beeko Grant Bayldon Mabel Au Anna Lindenfors Usman Hamid Hideki Walkbayashi Jose Noel Olano Piyanut Kotason Kate Allen Margaret Huang Resource:\u00a0https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/documents\/asa41\/6234\/2017\/en\/<\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On the 8th anniversary of the arrest of POC Tr\u1ea7n Hu\u1ef3nh Duy Th\u1ee9c \u2013 and half way through his 16-year prison sentence \u2013 the Directors of 12 Amnesty International offices call for his immediate and unconditional release. The letter also calls on Viet Nam\u2019s prison authorities to ensure that their treatment of Tr\u1ea7n Hu\u1ef3nh Duy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":872,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[108,107,105,106],"class_list":["post-870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advocacy","tag-amnesty-international","tag-an-xa-quoc-te","tag-tran-huynh-duy-thuc","tag-tu-nhan-luong-tam","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietnamvoice.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietnamvoice.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietnamvoice.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietnamvoice.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietnamvoice.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/vietnamvoice.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":944,"href":"https:\/\/vietnamvoice.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870\/revisions\/944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietnamvoice.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietnamvoice.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietnamvoice.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietnamvoice.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nTo Lam
\nMinister of Public Security
\nMinistry of Public Security<\/p>\n
\nDirector, Amnesty International Australia<\/p>\n
\nDirector, Amnesty International Malaysia<\/p>\n
\nDirector, Amnesty International France<\/p>\n
\nDirector, Amnesty International Mongolia<\/p>\n
\nDirector, Amnesty International Germany<\/p>\n
\nDirector, Amnesty International New Zealand<\/p>\n
\nDirector, Amnesty International Hong Kong<\/p>\n
\nDirector, Amnesty International Sweden<\/p>\n
\nDirector, Amnesty International Indonesia<\/p>\n
\nDirector, Amnesty International Japan<\/p>\n
\nHead of Office, Amnesty International Philippines<\/p>\n
\nDirector, Amnesty International Thailand<\/p>\n
\nDirector, Amnesty International UK<\/p>\n
\nDirector, Amnesty International USA<\/p>\n