Tran Khai Than Thuy
On 31 January 2008, according to Reporters Without Borders, Tran Khai Thanh Thuy was sentenced to 9 months in prison by a Hanoi Court for 'disturbing public order', but having already spent that time in pre-trial detention she was released the same day. English PEN warmly welcomes news of her release, while regretting her detention and criminal conviction merely as a result of practising her profession and expressing her opinion.
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Profession: Novelist, essayist, poet and editor
Date of arrest: 21 April 2007
Details of arrest: Tran Khain Thanh Thuy was arrested at her home in Hanoi, where she is said to have been under strict house arrest since November 2006. She is believed to be charged with violating Article 88 of the Criminal Code for disseminating information considered harmful to the State by the authorities. She has also been accused of being a member of Bloc 8406, a leading underground pro-democracy group, of supporting a dissident human rights organisation and of illegally organising a trade union. She faces up to twelve years in prison.
Place of detention: Detention Camp B14, Thanh Liet, in district Thanh Tri, Hanoi. Her lawyer, husband and two daughters have so far been denied authorisation to visit her.
Trial details: With only a day's notice, her trial commenced on 31 January 2008.
Professional details: Tran Khai Thanh Thuy is a renowned novelist, poet, essayist and editor of the underground dissident magazine To Quoc (Fatherland). Because of her writing, published on the Internet, she has been under heavy surveillance and harassment since September 2006. She is a member of the Union of Writers and the Club of Women Poets of Hanoi. She was one of this year's Hellman Hammet Award Winners.
Health concerns: She suffers from diabetes and advanced tuberculosis, for which she has been receiving hospital treatment. There are serious concerns that she is not receiving the necessary medical treatment in detention.
Other Details: Tran Khai Thanh Thuy has been repeatedly denounced and humiliated in public meetings organised by the Vietnamese authorities, including a 'People's Court' in October 2006, where police gathered 300 people in a public stadium to insult her. Her home was attacked by mobs who entered her home calling her a traitor and a prostitute, threatening to beat her. The police refuse to protect her, calling for her to abandon her activism to ensure her safety. In September and October 2006, she was repeatedly questioned and detained by the authorities and dismissed from her job. She was held under strict house arrest during APEC meetings in November of that year.
Honorary Member: English PEN