Vietnamese in Diaspora Request 

President George W. Bush to Help Nguyen Vu Binh

 

 

 

The following is a letter addressed to President George Bush by six Viet organizations overseas asking his intervention on behalf of the jailed dissident Nguyen Vu Binh actually in the fourth week of hunger strike.

 

 

 

 

 

May 24, 2004

 

President George W. Bush

The White House

Washington, D.C. 20500

 

Dear Mr. President:

 

On May 5, 2004, the Hanoi Supreme People’s Court upheld an earlier conviction of Nguyen Vu Binh for espionage. He was sentenced seven years in prison followed by three years under house arrest. He vehemently rejected the charge and declared  that “freedom or death” were now the only options left to him. From that moment, he began a hunger strike to protest against his sentence.

 

A former journalist with a Communist Party newspaper, Nguyen Vu Binh is a renowned pro-democracy activist and the founder of the Liberal Democratic Party. Since 2001, he has written and posted on the Internet several articles calling for political and economic reforms. In July 2002 he sent to the U.S. Congress a written testimony on the situation of human rights violations in Vietnam. For his actions, Mr. Nguyen was arrested and jailed in September 2002.

 

Through the wrongful sentencing of many innocent people like Nguyen Vu Binh, the Hanoi leaders have proven themselves to be arbitrary in the implementation of their own laws and have shown gross disregard for the human rights covenants of the United Nations.

 

We, the undersigned, are writing this letter to share with you our deep concern about the life threatening of this cyber-dissident who is now in the fourth week of hunger strike.

 

We urgently request your assistance in helping us to put an end to these misdeeds by:

 

1. Directing the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi to immediately dispatch a medical team to monitor the health of Nguyen Vu Binh and provide him with all the necessary medical attention to ensure his survival.
2. Demanding Hanoi to annul the sentence against Nguyen Vu Binh and set him free immediately and unconditionally.
3. Requesting the U.S. Congress to pass the Vietnam Human Rights Act with all urgency.

 

 

Thank you for your time and consideration.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

 

Ngo Thi Hien, President

Committee for Religious Freedom in Vietnam

 

Dr. Nguyen Quoc Quan, Chairman

International Committee for Freedom

 

Do Nhu Dien, Chairman

The Movement of Vietnamese Laity in Diaspora

 

Nguyen Quoc Hung, President

The National Congress of Vietnamese in America

 

Cao Chanh Huu, Chairman

Vietnamese Buddhist Youth Congregation of the Foreign Countries

 

Nguyen Thanh Trang, Chairman

Vietnam Human Rights Network