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Twenty Held After Mass Protest
A day after Vietnamese security forces forcibly occupied land for a development project, villagers are left panic-stricken. More than 20 people have been arrested following a mass protest over a land grab in Vietnam that was violently suppressed by security forces firing warning gunshots and tear gas, witnesses said Wednesday. "Generally, people are still panic-stricken after the authorities' action of coercion," a villager told RFA.Several thousand security personnel in Vietnam move to take control of disputed land from protesting villagers. In one of the biggest land confrontations in Vietnam, about 2,000 Vietnamese villagers hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails on Tuesday at a larger group of armed security forces moving to seize their land in the outskirts of the capital Hanoi, witnesses said. Backed by bulldozers, cranes, and excavators, more than 3,000 police and military personnel and unidentified men not in uniform moved in at the break of dawn to occupy 70 hectares (173 acres) of land in the district of Van Giang just east of Hanoi. In the seven-hour siege, police fired warning shots to keep the people at bay while the farmers resisted the occupation by throwing bricks, glass bottles, stones, and Molotov cocktails, the witnesses said.
Mass Security Clampdown in Land Seizure
Australia: Urge Human Rights Improvements in Vietnam
(New York) – Australia should urge Vietnam to release all political prisoners and to end restrictions on the freedoms of expression, association, peaceful assembly, belief, and religion when the two sides meet for their annual bilateral human rights dialogue in Hanoi on April 26-27, 2012, Human Rights Watch said today in a 16-page memo submitted to Australia. During the first quarter of 2012 alone, Vietnam sent at least 12 people to prison for exercising these rights peacefully. This follows the imprisonment of at least 33 rights activists and internet bloggers who were convicted in 2011 for simply expressing their political and religious beliefs. “Vietnam has mastered the practice of harassing, arresting, and charging activists brave enough to speak their minds with vaguely worded national security crimes that carry severe penalties,” said Phil Robertson , deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
Censorship Paradise
When Yingluck Shinawatra, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s younger sister, won the July 2011 general elections, Thais hoped this would end a series of political crises and open the way to more democracy. Unfortunately the new government has not ended the arbitrary use of lèse-majesté charges and has adopted many repressive measures. The trial of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, the editor of the Prachatai news website, resumed before a Bangkok court on 14 February after a long interruption, with testimony being heard on 14, 15 and 16 February (yesterday) from five defence witnesses.Sáng nay Chủ nhật 7-8-2011, nhân sĩ trí thức và người dân Hà Nội lại xuống đường biểu tình phản đối Trung Quốc xâm phạm chủ quyền Việt Nam tại Hoàng sa Trường sa. Người dân biểu tình chống Trung Quốc tập trung xung quanh tượng đài Vua Lý Thái Tổ, Hà Nội sáng 07-08-2011. Courtesy NguyenXuanDienBlog. Bên cạnh các biểu ngữ lên qán Trung Quốc xâm phạm chủ quyền, khẳng định Hoàng sa Trường sa là của Việt Nam, cuộc biểu tình lần này còn có một số biểu ngữ ghi lời của Trung tướng Nguyễn Đức Nhanh, Gám đốc Công an Hà Nội: “Không có chủ trương trấn áp người biểu tình yêu nước.”
Tường thuật cuộc biểu tình chống Trung Quốc lần thứ 9, ngày 7-8-2011 | RFA Tiếng Việt's Blog
Fears of crackdown as Vietnam PM set for new term - Yahoo! New Zealand News
Assange, meet Sayyed the terrorist > Despite Wikileaks’ role and deliberate intention as an intermediary or middleman between whistleblowers, hackers, and defectors, and the mainstream press at large, Australian ex-hacker turned activist and Editor Julian Assange is...
Hmongs in Laos begged to be rescued by the Western world Ever since BBC Vietnamese has its “change of the guard” – replacing pre-1975 staff with younger staff that came from Vietnam after the war ended on April 30, 1975 – I have been following its news reporting with skepticism. True to my doubts about its news reportage being used as the Vietnamese government unofficial channel to the Western world, the new BBC Vietnamese staff has dutifully used BBC’s reputation (un-biased reporting) to further the Vietnamese (communist) government’s aim in its ‘winning the hearts and minds’ campaign against the so-called Viet-Kieus – a deragotary term the communists used for Vietnamese living abroad.
BBC Vietnamese staff rebelling against the Vietnamese government ? « NamViet News
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Freed Vietnam dissident to wage democracy fight | National news | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
Gia đình BS Phạm Hồng Sơn và LS Lê Quốc Quân kêu cứu | RFA Tiếng Việt's Blog
Bác sĩ Phạm Hồng Sơn và Luật sư Lê Quốc Quân tiếp tục bị gia hạn tạm giữ thêm một lần nữa sau khi lệnh tạm giữ gia hạn trước đó hết hiệu lực vào ngày 10/4. Gia đình hai nhân vật bất đồng chính kiến này đã lên tiếng kêu cứu xin cộng đồng Việt Nam quan tâm và giúp đỡ để người thân của họ sớm được trả tự do. Khánh An: Thưa chị, được biết là hôm qua là hết hạn tạm giữ lần 2 đối với chồng chị – BS. Phạm Hồng Sơn – xin chị cho biết tình hình hiện nay của anh như thế nào? Vũ Thúy Hà: Công an quận Hoàn Kiếm đã gia hạn tạm giữ anh Phạm Hồng Sơn cũng như LS. Lê Quốc Quân thêm lần thứ hai nữa, tức là đã lên tới 9 ngày.
Viet Nam: Open letter: Conviction of Mr. Cu Huy Ha Vu / April 7, 2011 / Statements / Human rights defenders / OMCT
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT), and the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) are writing to you to lodge our strongest protest against the conviction on April 4, 2011 of Mr. Cu Huy Ha Vu , who was sentenced by the Hanoi People’s Court to seven years of imprisonment and three years of house arrest for “propaganda against the Republic Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under Article 88 of Vietnam's Criminal Code. Mr. Ha Vu, a lawyer, has been a peaceful defender of cultural, environmental and civil and political rights and has consistently used the courts to seek justice for those whose rights have been violated by the Government and private actors.Vietnamese rights lawyer jailed over call for democracy | World news | The Guardian
Cu Huy Ha Vu, centre, is escorted from court in Hanoi. His one-day trial saw protests and the judge evicting one of his defence lawyers. Photograph: EPA A dissident lawyer and son of a Vietnamese communist revolutionary leader has been sentenced to seven years in prison and a further three years' house arrest for calling for an end to Vietnam 's government and its one-party system. Cu Huy Ha Vu was sentenced after a dramatic one-day trial in Hanoi in which one of his defence attorneys was ejected by the judge and his other three lawyers walk out in protest. Vu was left alone to defend himself and had several heated exchanges with the judge.Vietnamesischer Regimekritiker verurteilt: Sieben Jahre Haft für Anwalt - taz.de
Vietnamesischer Regimekritiker verurteilt Ein Gericht befindet den 53jährigen für schuldig, das Einparteiensystem in Frage gestellt zu haben. Zuvor hatte er Klage gegen den Regierungschef eingereicht. von SVEN HANSEN Cu Huy Ha Vu am Montag vor Gericht.NYT_JenPreston Video 4/4 #VietNam that @NYT's piece mentioned. Supporters of Dr.Cu Huy Ha Vu gathe
Posted Tuesday 5th April 2011 from Twitlonger .@NYT_JenPreston Video 4/4 #VietNam that @NYT 's piece mentioned.The United States is deeply concerned by the April 4 conviction and sentencing to seven years imprisonment of activist Cu Huy Ha Vu on charges of “propagandizing against the government.” We are also troubled by the apparent lack of due process in the conduct of the trial, and the continued detention of several individuals who were peacefully seeking to observe the proceedings. Vu’s conviction runs counter to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and raises serious questions about Vietnam’s commitment to rule of law and reform.