By Mong Palatino, The Diplomat
Three Vietnamese activists were found guilty by a local court of “serious obstruction to traffic” when they rode their motorbikes last February from Saigon to Dong Thap province to visit a former political prisoner.
Rights Activists Bui Thi Minh Hang and Nguyen Thi Thuy Quynh.
Courtesy of Dan Lam Bao and contributors
Prominent Vietnamese activist blogger Bui Thi Minh Hang was given a three-year prison sentence while her two other companions, Nguyen Thi Thuy Quynh and Nguyen Van Minh, received jail terms of two years and 2.5 years, respectively. The one-day trial was held six months after the three were arrested.
Twenty-one other activists took part in the activity last February but only three were charged for violating Article 245 (causing public disorder).
Bui Thi Minh Hang is a popular anti-China activist who is also a vocal critic of the government’s policies on land, religion and human rights. Nguyen Thi Thuy Quynh is a fellow activist-blogger. Nguyen Van Minh is a Hao Hao Buddhist sect follower and an activist for religious freedom. Many believe that Bui Thi Minh Hang was the real target of the police but the two other activists were also arrested to avoid accusations that authorities are unfairly persecuting anti-government activists.
More than one hundred friends, supporters and relatives of the three prisoners went to Dong Thap province to show support during the trial, but the police blocked them from the hearing, making further arrests.
According to Ngoc Nhi Nguyen, almost all of the visitors had been “stopped, harassed, threatened, barricaded, and even beaten up and arrested by the police.” He reported that anyone taking photos near the courthouse had their phones or cameras confiscated. Many were also arrested and herded inside waiting police buses and taken to an unknown location.
“The Vietnamese government is obviously too scared to allow its citizens to even come near the building housing the Court room, let alone allowing them inside to watch the proceed of the supposedly open trial,” he added.
Read the full story HERE.
