Vietnam Committee on Human Rights
President : Vo Van Ai
Vice-President : Penelope Faulkner
25 rue Jaffeux, 92230 Gennevilliers (France)
Tel. : Paris (1) 47 93 10 81 - Fax. : Paris (1) 47 91 41 38
E-mail : 100302.3100@compuserve.com
For Immediate Release
16 September 1997
International PEN Congress condemns persecution of writers in Vietnam and urges Governments at the coming Francophone Summit in Hanoi to press for release of Vietnamese writers in prison.
The Vietnam Committee on Human Rights received today a Resolution on Vietnam adopted by the International PEN at their Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland. International PEN, founded in London in 1921, has 126 centres in 91 countries all over the world, and its Vice-Presidents include Nobel Prize laureate Nadine Gordimer, Arthur Miller, Leopold Sedar Senghor, Mario Vargas Llosa, Francis King... International PEN's "Writers in Prison Committee", established in 1960, works for the release of all writers "detained or otherwise persecuted for their opinions expressed in writing (...) or for the practice of their profession".
International PEN's Resolution strongly condemns the persecution of Vietnamese writers such as Buddhist philosopher Thich Tue Sy and historian Le Manh That (Thich Tri Sieu), whose death sentence in 1988 was commuted to 20 years hard labour following an international protest campaign; dissident Doan Viet Hoat, serving 15 years imprisonment for circulating a bulletin entitled "Freedom Forum"; Nguyen Dan Que, a medical doctor condemned to 20 years in jail for advocating democratic reform; Ho Hieu, a Communist Party dissident. It also deplores Vietnam's newly adpoted decree on "administrative detention" which gives Security Police extra-juducial powers to monitor and detain suspected critics. PEN further calls on Governments taking part in the Francophonie Summit in November 1997 in Hanoi to press for the release of writers detained in Vietnam. The Resolution was addressed to the Vietnamese authorities by PEN International Secretary, Mr Alexandre Blokh, in a letter to Communist Party Secretary Do Muoi dated August 20th 1997. The text runs as follows:
"The Assembly of Delegates of International PEN, meeting at the 64th International Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland:
- Deplores the complete lack of improvement in the situation of Vietnamese writers who are imprisoned for exercising freedom of expression;
- Notes that in spite of numerous representations by PEN on their behalf to the Vietnamese government, Le Manh That, also known as Thich Tri Sieu, and Dr Nguyen Dan Que, also known as Nguyen Chau, and Thich Tue Sy, Nguyen Van Thuan, Doan Viet Hoat and Ho Hieu, are still in prison;
- Condemns the poor prison conditions under which these prisoners are held, most notably Doan Viet Hoat who is in severe ill-health;
- Further deplores the passing of the new Government Decree CP31 passed in Vietnam in April 1997 which allows for "administrative" detention of between 6 months to two years, and in some cases longer, without trial of political dissidents;
- Calls upon the Vietnamese authorities to:
- end further persecution of writers in Vietnam;
- observe basic human rights standards, including the right of free expression as stated in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- Notes with interest that the next Francophonie Summit will take place in Hanoi in November 1997;
- Urgently requests the governments represented in the Francophonie Summit to exercise their influence to secure the liberation of all writers detained in Vietnam for the exercise of their right to freedom of expression".