tvc.dsj.org | February 20, 2018 VIETNAMESE
NEWS
13
Blogger Hoàng Đức Binh Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison
Hanoi (AsiaNews/Agencies) – A
Vietnamese court sentenced a promi-
nent environmental blogger to 14 years
for abusing his democratic freedom and
opposing officials on duty, his lawyer
Ha Huy Son said.
Vietnamese trade unionist and hu-
man rights activist Hoàng Đức Binh,
35, was arrested on May 15 in Nghệ An,
central Vietnam, more than a year after
organizing protests over an environ-
mental disaster caused by the Taiwan-
based Formosa Plastics Group and the
government’s ineffectual response.
Binh is also vice president of Viet
Labour, a labor group organization, as
well as a member of a group that has
protested against China’s occupation of
islands in the South China Sea.
The court imposed two seven-year
prison sentences, one of the toughest
prison terms ever inflicted on an activist.
At the end of the trial, the court also
imposed a two-year prison sentence on
fellow activist Nguyễn Nam Phong.
In recent months, activists and blog-
gers have become the target of a govern-
ment campaign against dissent. Four
bloggers and human rights activists
were sentenced recently to a total of 24
years in prison and 15 of house arrest.
On January 31, the People’s Court
in Hanoi convicted Vũ Quang Thuận,
Nguyễn Văn Điển, and Trần Hoàng
Phúc, a student, for “propaganda against
the state.” The following day, a Ho Chi
Minh City Court convicted Hồ Văn Hải
for the same crime. The latter had been
in detention for more than a year.
More than a hundred people are
currently held as political prisoners or
prisoners of conscience for exercising
their fundamental rights.
Dissidents face harassment, intimi-
dation, surveillance and police inter-
rogation on an almost daily basis, and
are often remanded into custody for
long periods of time without access to
lawyers or family.
Many Catholics have also paid a
price for their activism, often receiving
harsh sentences, as did recently Nguyễn
Văn Oai (five years), Trần Thị Nga (nine),
Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh (ten) and
Nguyễn Văn Hóa (seven).
Activists Demand Release Of Jailed Vietnam Dissidents
Rights and democracy activists have petitioned top
Vietnamese government officials to free all prisoners
of conscience jailed for dissident views.
They said more than 170 people are in jail after
being convicted of attempting to overthrow the
communist government, conducting anti-state cam-
paigns and abusing democratic freedom to infringe
the state’s interests.
The prisoners had only expressed their views or
criticized policies of the government and the Com-
munist Party, they added.
“Some were arrested and convicted of causing
public disorder or tax evasion, even the sex trade,
but the actual reason behind those arrests was their
political dissent from the ruling party,” they said.
Their petition was sent to President Tran Dai
Quang, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, National
Assembly chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and
Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong.
The online petition dated February 3 has drawn
nearly 500 signatures so far.
Signatories also demanded officials “immediately
free two female dissidents,Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quyn-
hand and Tran Thi Nga, because they are innocent
and are single mothers who have to take care of their
small children.”
Quynh, a Catholic blogger known as Mother
Mushroom, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in
June 2017 for propaganda against the government.
Her mother, Nguyen Tuyet Lan, said she vis-
ited Quynh in prisonfor 10 minutes on February
5. “Quynh is in poor health and suffers high blood
pressure,” she said.
Nga was convicted of propaganda against the
government and sentenced to nine years in jail in
July 2017.
The petition also asked the government to show
that Vietnam respects freedom of speech and demo-
cratic values so that it can regain people’s confidence
and build a democratic and progressive state.
Catholics Offer Food Aid to Struggling Farmers During Tet
Humanitarian Aid Dispensed to Those Undone by Last Year’s Floods in Central Vietnam
ucanews.com reporter, Hue Vietnam
Catholics from parishes in a central
Vietnamese province have given meat
and other humanitarian aid to under-
privileged farmers who suffered due to
last year’s floods and storms, in celebra-
tion of Tet this February 16.
Falling on the same day as the Lunar
New Year, Tet is the most important
festival in communist Vietnam. It runs
from February 14-20 this year.
Some 300 farmers from various
faiths gathered at An Truyen church
despite the bitter weather on February
11 to receive 3 kilograms of pork and
2.5 kilograms of sticky rice each. The
Catholic Church has made charitable
giving to flood-hit farmers a tradition
in recent years.
Father Anthony Nguyen Thang said
the parish purchased 13 pigs and 700
kilograms of sticky rice to offer to poor
farmers. The animals were slaughtered
earlier by local parishioners.
“Poor people only have rice and
vegetables year-round. They rarely get
to eat meat,” Father Thang said.
Pork and sticky rice are only eaten
on special occasions by many farming
families in Vietnam, such as at wedding
parties, Tet festivals, as offerings to vil-
lage gods or at events honoring ances-
tors who have passed away, he said.
During a recent event dubbed “Tet of
Lo ve,” the parish priest had an uplifting
message for those in attendance.
“We want to share something use-
ful with you so you can celebrate Tet
properly and overcome the difficulties
caused by the floods and storms last
year,” he said.
Non-Catholic Doan Van Vu, 68, said,
“I’m happy to have some pork and sticky
rice so that I can use it to prepare food
to offer to my ancestors for Tet.”
Another pig farmer who gave his
name as Vu said he lost 10 million dong
($450) last year due to the inclement
weather conditions.
He now sells lottery tickets to make
ends meet and support his ailing wife,
he said.
Le Thi Le, a farmer from An Luu
of Phu Vang district, said she collects
second-hand goods to ensure her family
has enough food to eat.
Floods washed over their 1,000
-meter-square farm in late November,
damaging vegetables and other crops,
said the 50-year-old mother of three.
“We aren’t Catholic yet local Catho-
lics still offer us food for Tet. We are
deeply grateful,” she said.
Teresa Nguyen Lan Huong runs a
Catholic youth group from Our Lady
of Perpetual Help Parish.
She said group members cooked
up batches of a popular glutinous rice
cake known in Vietnam as banh tet and
distributed it to poor people in Hue City.
Fundraising was carried out by 100
group members who sell used items at
the weekend to raise money for char-
ity, she added.
Father Dominic Tran Thien Thanh,
who serves as an assistant priest at the
parish, said a food fair organized on
February 15 was designed to bring the
community closer together and help
those in need at this special time of
the year.
Many other parishes and religious
orders have given food, blankets, clothes
and money to thousands of people in ru-
ral areas who do not have enough to eat.
In early February, Prime Minister
Nguyen Xuan Phuc ordered that 12,000
tonnes of rice be given to those who
are facing starvation in 18 provinces
over Tet.
The Central Steering Committee
for Natural Disaster Prevention and
Control reported in 2017 that natural
disasters claimed 386 lives and left 654
injured that year.
The damage done to houses, crops,
cattle and public facilities cost as much
as $2.65 billion, it said.