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Bob Dietz/CPJ Asia Program
Coordinator
As
an independent blogger, Ta
Phong Tan often highlighted abuses in
Vietnam's justice system. Now as a prisoner of conscience serving a
10-year sentence for "propagandizing against the state,"
an anti-state offense under Article 88 of Vietnam's criminal code,
she is suffering under the same abusive system she once critiqued
and exposed.
Earlier
this year Tan
staged a hunger strike for about three weeks to protest
poor prison conditions. It was believed to be the third time she
has fasted in protest since first being detained in September 2011.
Tan is being held in solitary confinement in a stifling, windowless
cell, according to her sister, Ta Minh Tu.
In
email correspondence with CPJ, Tu spoke about her sister's dire
situation and renewed her family's call for Tan's immediate and
unconditional release. Her responses have been translated from
Vietnamese.
CPJ:
Some
families of prisoners in Vietnam tell us they seldom get to see
their loved ones who are behind bars. When was the last time you
were able to see your sister?
Ta
Minh Tu: Since my sister Tan was imprisoned,
prison officers have regularly caused difficulties each time we try
to visit her. Each visit, we have to wait from 90 minutes up
to two hours before seeing Tan. The last visit I made was on
June 14, 2015 to persuade her to stop her hunger strike. When
I met Tan, she said she stopped her hunger strike on June 3, 2015.
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