Vietnam: Internet writer released

English PEN welcomes the release on 11 July 2008 of internet writer, dissident and lawyer Bui Kim Thành, after being held for several months in psychiatric detention, apparently without any medical basis. However, we are deeply concerned that Bui Kim Thành’s release was apparently conditional on her going into exile, and continue to call for her unconditional release in accordance with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Vietnam is a signatory.

Bui Kim Thành, aged forty-nine, is a human rights lawyer, internet writer and member of the banned Democratic Party of Vietnam. She is also well-known for her reporting on issues of social injustice and human
rights violations in Vietnam, and particularly for her defence of
destitute women farmers made homeless by illegal land expropriation.

On 6 March 2008, Bui Kim Thành was taken to the Bien Hoa Mental Hospital by police on 6 March 2008, after they broke into her house in Ho Chi Minh City. According to our information, she was released on 11 July 2008, and reportedly left Vietnam for the United States on 21 July 2008 under extreme pressure from the authorities.

This is not the first time that Bui Kim Thành has been sectioned in a psychiatric hospital by the Vietnamese authorities. She was previously detained on 2 November 2006 and held for eight months at the Bien Hoa Psychiatric Hospital, despite having being assessed by two psychiatrists who concluded that she was not suffering from mental illness. She is said to have been forcibly injected with unknown medication during her incarceration. Bui Kim Thành is believed to have been targeted for her critical online writings and dissident activities.

For IFEX alerts and reports on freedom of expression in Vietnam, please click here.

Please send appeals:

·    Welcoming the release of Bui Kim Thành, but expressing serious concern that she has been forced into exile and is separated from her family;
·    Calling for her unconditional release in accordance with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Vietnam is a signatory.

Appeals to be sent to:

His Excellency Nguyên Minh Triêt President, Socialist Republic of Vietnam
C/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Hanoi
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Prime Minister Nguyên Tân Dung
1 Hoang Hoa Tham Street
Hanoi
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Lê Doan Hop, Minister of Culture and Information
1 Hoang Hoa Tham Street
Hanoi
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Please note that there are no fax numbers available for the Vietnamese authorities, so you may wish to ask the diplomatic representative for Vietnam in your country to forward your appeals. It would also be advantageous to ask your country’s diplomatic representatives in Vietnam to intervene in the case.

HE Mr Trinh Duc Du
12 – 14 Victoria Road
W8 5RD
United Kingdom
Fax: 020 7937 6108 or 004420- 7565 3853
Email: embassy@vietnamembassy.org.uk