The wife of a California resident detained in Viet Nam last month, held on terror charges, on Tuesday asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other high-ranking officials to help him gain his freedom.
State-run media in Viet Nam said Nguyen Quoc Quan was taken into custody April 17 at the airport in Sai Gon. The government has accused him of trying to create trouble in advance of the remembrance of the fall of Sai Gon, remembered each April 30.
“I come here to appeal for your assistance in securing my husband’s release from arbitrary detention in Viet Nam,” Mai Huong Ngo told the U.S. House of Representatives’ Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.
Ngo also appealed to David Shear, the U.S. ambassador to Viet Nam, to secure her husband’s release. She additionally asked for assistance from Michael Posner, the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor. He testified on Tuesday before the house subcommittee, expressing concern about what he called an “unacceptable” human rights situation in Viet Nam.
Ngo said her husband has dedicated his life to promoting democracy in Viet Nam.
