Joint Statement by the Vietnam Human Rights Network and Defend The Defenders on August 05, 2025, about the Escalating Repression of Prisoners of Conscience in Vietnam

 

After being elected General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam in August 2024, former Minister of Public Security To Lam declared a “new era” for the country. However, Vietnam’s human rights record has not improved, and the regime has continued to intensify its repression of dissidents and activists, especially those in prison.

Refusal to provide medical treatment

Activist Can Thi Theu, who is serving an eight-year prison sentence at Prison No. 5 (Thanh Hoa) for allegedly “conducting propaganda against the State” under Article 117 of the Penal Code, told her family that she is currently exasperated and has a dull pain in her right iliac fossa. Her fingernails turned black purple, leading to growing concerns about poisoning. The Prison No. 5 Administration only took her to the hospital for brief treatment for three days and then returned her to her cell, even though her health condition was deplorable. They also refused to provide her medical records despite her request.

Mr. Le Huu Minh Tuan - editor of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam is currently detained at Xuyen Moc Prison (Ho Chi Minh City) on charges under Article 117, and his health has seriously declined in recent years, resulting from unmet medical needs for a digestive illness.

Also in this prison, activist Tran Bang has a tumor in his groin. Despite numerous attempts, he was unable to get the medical tests and treatment he requested.

Punished for demanding medical treatment or protesting abuse

Prisoner of conscience Le Dinh Luong is being held in solitary confinement at Ba Sao Prison (Ninh Binh), after going on a hunger strike to protest the prison warden’s refusal to examine and treat him for many dangerous illnesses. The prison has suspended his family’s visiting privileges and access to provide him with supplies for the past two months. Luong is a veteran who was sentenced to 20 years in prison and five years of probation for “activities aimed at overthrowing the government” simply because he actively spoke out against the Formosa Steel Company’s illegal discharge of toxic industrial waste into the ocean, causing an environmental disaster in 2016.

Activist Trinh Ba Phuong, son of Can Thi Theu, was prosecuted by Quang Nam Provincial Police on charges under Article 117 while he was serving a ten-year prison sentence for the same “Article at An Diem Prison. He was investigated and prosecuted simply for holding a slogan protesting the communist regime and the harsh detention regime during a small protest last year, even though the prison had disciplined him for this.

Many prisoners of conscience are held in solitary confinement and shackled.

Along with denying timely and appropriate medical treatment, many prisons also employ other forms of repression against prisoners of conscience, such as forcing them to confess even though they had been unjustly convicted by the courts, subjecting them to surveillance, threats, and beatings by criminal prisoners, and making it difficult for families to contact and visit them.

In late July 2025, prisoner of conscience Dang Dang Phuoc was disciplined by Xuan Phuoc Prison by being held in solitary confinement for ten days without any apparent reason. Two months earlier, he had also been punished by being held in solitary confinement and shackled. His family is very worried about his health, especially in the harsh summer weather conditions in the Central region.

To protest their inhumane treatment, many prisoners of conscience have had to risk their lives by going on hunger strikes for weeks, such as Mr. Le Trong Hung in Prison Camp No. 6 (Nghe An province) and Mr. Phan Van Bach in Prison Camp No. 5 recently.

Without receiving timely treatment, many prisoners of conscience died while serving their sentences, such as independent journalist Do Cong Duong, pastor Dinh Diem, Mr. Phan Van Thu, teacher Dao Quang Thuc, or died shortly after being released, such as teacher Dinh Dang Dinh.

The above-mentioned cases of repression of prisoners of conscience and many others in the past show that the communist government in Vietnam has systematically applied an inhumane detention policy against activists and human rights defenders for decades, and there is no sign of change soon.

Due to those tragic circumstances, the two organizations, Vietnam Human Rights Network and Defend The Defenders, call on the Vietnamese communist authorities to comply with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Convention), end the repression of prisoners of conscience, and provide timely medical treatment when they fall ill.

We also call on the international community, governments of democratic countries, and international human rights organizations to speak out against Vietnam’s inhumane treatment and demand that Hanoi comply with its international human rights obligations.

Vietnam cannot develop sustainably without respecting the fundamental rights of all citizens and continuing to suppress activists, especially when they are imprisoned.

 

Ngu Vu Director Defend the Defenders

Tung Nguyen Executive Director Vietnam Human Rights Network

 

 

 

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