Pham Minh Hoang’s two months of detention

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Dear friends,

Today, October 13, 2010, marks the two-month detention of my brother, Pham Minh Hoang in the Vietnamese prisons.

A French-Vietnamese citizen, professor of Applied Mathematics at the Ho Chi Minh City Polytechnic Institute, blogger and member of Viet Tan – a pro-democracy party banned in Vietnam – Hoang’s detention has been relayed by the media and raised a wave of protests by several NGOs such as Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Frontline Defenders, Action des Chrétiens pour l’Abolition de là Torture (ACAT), Global Voices, etc. 17 government representatives from France, the United States, England, Canada and Australia intervened with the Vietnamese government and expressed their concern regarding Hoang’s detention. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also expressed its deepest concern regarding Hoang’s detention. His students and old friends set up blogs calling for his release and Viet Tan, his party to which he is accused of belonging, has launched a petition which has already collected over 5,200 signatures within a few days.

In response to all this support and assistance, the Hanoi regime mobilized State media in late September to launch a smear campaign against Hoang, presenting him as a criminal. The Vietnamese police have even broadcasted a video where Hoang is making compulsory confessions. He seems very tired and extremely thin. Subjected to repeated questioning and to strong psychological pressure, my brother is no longer master of his declarations and is now the hostage of the Vietnamese government. We are now deeply concerned about his health and state of mind.

Indeed, two months of detention is too much time for someone who has committed no crime, apart from peacefully expressing his opinion through his blog and from teaching students to think by and for themselves and to commit to a non-violent struggle for democracy. Two months is also too much time for his wife, his daughter and for his entire family who has no news from him.

That is why I would like to thank all the human rights organizations and all those who have spoken up worldwide and advocated for my brother. However, despite all these interventions, and despite strong support from both inside and outside the country for an immediate release of my brother, we, again and more than ever, need your strong support against the dictatorship with whom my brother is struggling. The Vietnamese Government has signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It must respect it. Peaceful expression of opinion is not a crime. Joining a political party is not a crime.

Therefore, I urge you to please raise your voice to remind Vietnam of such commitment but also to advocate for my brother, who is innocent in this issue, so that he does not become anonymous and that he may finally be released, return to his family and recover his dignity.

Paris, October 13, 2010

Pham Duy Khanh and his family

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