Vietnam Human Rights Network Petitions U.N. Over Huynh Ngoc Tuan’s Detention

  

 

 

PRESS RELEASE

Aug. 10, 2026

 

WESTMINSTER, Calif., Aug. 10, 2026 — The Vietnam Human Rights Network (VNHRN) today submitted a complaint to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) concerning the imprisonment of Vietnamese writer and political commentator Huynh Ngoc Tuan. The complaint calls on the Working Group to find that his detention is arbitrary and contrary to Vietnam’s obligations under international human rights law.

Mr. Tuan, 63, has long advocated for freedom of expression, civil and political rights, and democratic reform in Vietnam. In 1992, Vietnamese authorities sentenced him to 10 years in prison for sending and distributing writings critical of the government abroad.

Following his release in 2002, Mr. Tuan continued to express views critical of government policies, wrote a memoir documenting his decade of imprisonment, and used social media to comment on political and social issues. In 2012, Human Rights Watch honored Mr. Tuan and his daughter, Huynh Thuc Vy, with the Hellman/Hammett Award for their commitment to freedom of expression in the face of political repression.

Amid a broader crackdown on dissent preceding the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam in early 2026, authorities arrested Mr. Tuan and prosecuted him under Article 117 of the Penal Code, which criminalizes “making, storing, distributing or propagating information, documents and materials aimed at opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”

Following a brief, closed trial, at which, according to information available to VNHRN, neither defense counsel nor family members were permitted to attend, Mr. Tuan was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison, followed by five years of probation.

According to Vietnamese state media, authorities alleged that Mr. Tuan wrote articles for organizations abroad and, between May and September 2025, used his Facebook account to livestream videos and publish articles containing views critical of the Communist Party and government.

VNHRN maintains that these activities constitute the peaceful exercise of Mr. Tuan’s internationally protected right to freedom of opinion and expression and do not provide a legitimate basis for criminal prosecution or imprisonment.

In its submission, VNHRN argues that Mr. Tuan’s detention violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Vietnam is a State Party, particularly protections for freedom of opinion and expression and the right to a fair and public hearing.

VNHRN further contends that Mr. Tuan’s imprisonment constitutes discriminatory punishment based substantially on his political opinions and longstanding peaceful advocacy for human rights and democratic freedoms.

VNHRN calls upon the Working Group to determine that Mr. Tuan’s detention is arbitrary and incompatible with Vietnam’s international human rights obligations. It also urges Vietnamese authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Huynh Ngoc Tuan and all others imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising their internationally protected fundamental freedoms.

 

 

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