{"id":54799,"date":"2025-02-18T15:30:44","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T23:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/un-experts-call-for-release-of-jailed-vietnamese-blogger\/"},"modified":"2025-02-18T15:30:44","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T23:30:44","slug":"un-experts-call-for-release-of-jailed-vietnamese-blogger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/un-experts-call-for-release-of-jailed-vietnamese-blogger\/","title":{"rendered":"UN experts call for release of jailed Vietnamese blogger"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four United Nations experts have called on Vietnam\u2019s government to immediately release activist blogger Duong Van Thai, who was sentenced to a dozen years in prison after allegedly becoming the victim of an enforced disappearance.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the latest international appeal to free Thai, who fled Vietnam in 2019 fearing political persecution for his many YouTube and Facebook posts criticizing the government of corruption and over its policies.<\/p>\n

In a joint letter to the Vietnamese government, dated Dec. 20 and released on Monday by the U.N. Human Rights High Commissioner\u2019s Office, four U.N. special rapporteurs said that reports of Thai\u2019s enforced disappearance had undermined the integrity of his legal case.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wish to express serious concern about Mr. Thai\u2019s reported enforced disappearance and rendition, which we fear might have been directly related to his legitimate work as an independent journalist and human rights defender, and to the exercise of his right to freedom of opinion and expression,\u201d the letter reads.<\/p>\n

Thai disappeared in April 2023 in what his supporters and rights advocates say was an abduction. Shortly thereafter, he turned up in Vietnamese custody.<\/p>\n

In an Oct. 30, 2024, closed-door trial, Thai was convicted and sentenced to 12 years for disseminating information harmful to the state.<\/p>\n

Disappearance undermines case<\/h3>\n

In their joint letter, the four rapporteurs noted that Thai had been granted refugee status by the U.N. prior to his disappearance, and said allegations that he was abducted by Vietnamese security personnel in Thailand suggest he was denied the right to a fair trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are deeply concerned by allegations that Mr. Thai was subjected to enforced disappearance prior to the commencement of his trial, thereby undermining the integrity of the legal proceedings from the outset,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

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This is Duong Van Thai, a well-known Vietnamese blogger<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

The rapporteurs urged the Vietnamese government to release Thai and ensure his right to appeal his case.<\/p>\n

They also called on Vietnam to provide information about what steps authorities had taken to investigate Thai\u2019s alleged enforced disappearance, to identify those responsible and sanction them, and to guarantee that he obtains adequate redress for harm suffered.<\/p>\n

The experts noted that Vietnam is obligated to do so as a signatory to the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.<\/p>\n

The letter was signed by Mary Lawlor, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Ganna Yudkivska, vice-chair on communications of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; Gabriella Citroni, chair-rapporteur of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; and Irene Khan, special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.<\/p>\n

Hanoi has yet to respond to the rapporteurs’ letter and attempts by RFA Vietnamese to contact the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs went unanswered by the time of publishing.<\/p>\n

Police won\u2019t verify family relationship<\/h3>\n

Two months after his closed trial, Thai was transferred to An Diem Prison in the central province of Quang Nam \u2014 about 1,000 km (620 miles) from his family \u2014 to serve his sentence.<\/p>\n

Thai\u2019s mother, Duong Thi Lu, told RFA that she was able to meet her son at Detention Facility B14 in Hanoi after the trial. However, since his transfer late last year, she has only been able to communicate with him through monthly phone calls and letters.<\/p>\n

Lu requested that police in Hanoi\u2019s Thuy Law commune verify her relationship with Thai so that she can send supplies to her son in An Diem Prison and visit him, but said she had been denied because he is a \u201creactionary element.\u201d<\/p>\n

RFA\u2019s attempts to reach the Thuy Lam Commune Police by phone to verify Lu\u2019s claims were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tin t\u1eeb RFA Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four United Nations experts have called on Vietnam\u2019s government to immediately release activist blogger Duong Van Thai, who was sentenced to a dozen years in prison after allegedly becoming the victim of an enforced disappearance. It\u2019s the latest international appeal to free Thai, who fled Vietnam in 2019 fearing political persecution for his many YouTube …<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[239],"tags":[246,251],"class_list":["post-54799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vietnam","tag-english","tag-rfa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54799\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}