Vietnam's blog shame
As a mother dies in protest at her daughter's
detention, it's time for Britain to take a stand
A
shrine to Dang Thi Kim Lieng who died after setting herself on fire early in
protest at her daughter's trial for propaganda against the Vietnamese state.
Photograph: Danlambao/AFP/Getty Images
On
30 July, when Dang Thi Kim Lieng
left home in the morning, her daughter assumed she was following her regular
coffee routine. Instead she made her way to the offices of the Bac Lieu People's Committee
and self-immolated outside the building, the first such act of protest in
Vietnam since the 1970s. She died on her way to hospital. Dang Thi Kim Lieng's
other daughter, Ta Phong Tan,
is one of three bloggers from the website Free Journalists' Club facing trial
for "distorting the truth, denigrating the party and state" under
article 88 of Vietnam's criminal code, which carries a maximum sentence of 20
years in prison.
It
wasn't only concern for her daughter that prompted Lieng's desperate act; in
addition to their anxieties about Ta Phong Tan she and her family have also had
to face harassment from the state, including threats of eviction. In March this
year, Reporters Without Borders published The Enemies of
the Internet, a report listing countries with the worst record on internet
freedom. To no one's surprise China topped the list of most enthusiastic jailor
of netizens, but taking the silver medal, as it had the previous year, was
Vietnam – alongside Iran. It isn't only online dissenters who are targeted by
the state – PEN International has a list of more than 20
writers, including poets and novelists, who are detained in Vietnam . Most of
the accused are held under article 88, which is aimed at "propaganda
against the state", or article 77, which outlaws attempts at
"overthrowing the people's administration". The laws are ambiguous
enough to allow the authorities to use them against any critical voice.
The
three bloggers of Free Journalists Club were supposed to stand trial on 25
July, but the date was unaccountably changed to 7 August and, in contravention
of criminal proceedings, the court barred observers and family members from attending.
At present, all three bloggers are being held in pre-trial detention: Ta Phong
Tan, a former policewoman who has used her blog to criticise police abuses, has
been held since 5 September 2011; Phan Thanh Hai,
a law school graduate whose application to practice law was denied by the Ho
Chi Minh Bar Association because of his blogging on controversial issues such
as bauxite mining, has been held since October 18 2010; Dieu Cay,
a human rights lawyer and blogger, was originally held on trumped-up charges of
tax evasion in 2009 (well before the Chinese authorities used a similar
strategy to lock up Ai Weiwei), and imprisoned until 19 October 2010 – the day
that prison sentence ended his pretrial detention under article 88 started.
All
this is taking place as Vietnam 's relations with the UK are getting significantly
closer. In 2010 the two countries signed a strategic partnership agreement; in
2011 Vietnam was the second most popular emerging market for investors after
China in a survey by UK Trade & Investment; and in
April this year William Hague became the first foreign secretary to visit the
country in many years, tweeting that Asia-Pacific was "a much greater
focus of foreign policy under this gov."
There hasn't yet been a response from the Foreign Office to the self-immolation. By contrast, the US embassy in Hanoi released a statement on 1 August expressing its sadness and calling for the immediate release of the bloggers.
As
for the Vietnamese state's response to Dang Thi Kim Lieng's suicide – on
Friday, after days of silence, officials said they were investigating the
death; on the same day, one of the lawyers for the bloggers received a phone
call from the court clerk to say the trial had been delayed once more. No
reason was given. Ta Phong Tan remains in prison, and it's unclear if she has
been informed of her mother's death. Surely it's past time for the individuals,
organisations and governments who speak out against repression in China and
Iran to add their voices to the protests.
*
Kamila Shamsie is the author of five novels, including Burnt Shadows which was
shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, and has been translated into over
20 languages. She has also written a work of non-fiction, Offence: The Muslim
Case. A trustee of Free Word and English Pen, she grew up in Karachi and now
lives in London .
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Liên Hội Nhân Quyền Việt Nam ở Thụy Sĩ
Ligue Vietnamienne des
Droits de l'Homme en Suisse
Vietnamese League for Human
Rights in Switzerland
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