Vietnam: 'outrageous' jailing of land rights activist is latest in growing crackdown

Trần Thị Nga sentenced to nine years for ‘conducting propaganda against the state’

Is second women’s rights activist jailed in a month, with more than 90 prisoners of conscience now languishing in Vietnamese jails

Responding to today’s conviction and sentencing of the labour and land rights activist Trần Thị Nga to nine years in prison for “conducting propaganda against the state” in Vietnam, Josef Benedict, Amnesty International’s Southeast Asia Campaigns Deputy Director, said:

“Today’s conviction and imprisonment of Trần Thị Nga is outrageous and must be reversed immediately. 

“She is a prisoner of conscience who has done nothing but peacefully defend human rights.

 

“This is the second conviction of a woman human rights defender in less than a month in Vietnam, where the authorities are stepping up efforts to put peaceful activists behind bars. 

“The government is destroying the lives of brave individuals and their families simply to intimidate others from raising their voices. 

 

“There are more than 90 prisoners of conscience in Vietnam today, and the numbers are only growing. The harsh restrictions on rights defenders and activism must end immediately.”

‘Mother Mushroom’ given ten years last month

On 29 June, Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh, also known as blogger Mẹ Nấm (Mother Mushroom), was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment for “conducting propaganda” against the state. 

She was charged in relation to her activities on Facebook and other social media, including writing, uploading and sharing articles and video content critical of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam and the state; for producing, editing, and sharing a report “Stop Police Killing Civilians” that listed 31 people who, the report claimed, had died in police custody; for giving interviews to foreign media that “distorted” the situation in Vietnam; and for her possession of a poem collection and CD recording that were deemed critical of the Communist Party and the state. 

Amnesty considers Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for her peaceful activities promoting and defending human rights.

For three other cases of concern relating to human rights activism in Vietnam, go here.