Activists, journalists and bloggers arrested and jailed while new decrees to control associations and the internet come into effect

The state of civic space in Vietnam remains rated as ‘closed’ in the new People Power Under Attack report published on 4th December 2024 by the CIVICUS Monitor. Among ongoing concerns documented are systematic attempts to silence human rights defenders, journalists and bloggers, including their jailing under national security laws, restrictions on their freedom of movement, and torture and ill-treatment in detention. There are also strict controls on the media, online censorship and controls on social media as well as ongoing restrictions on peaceful protests.

In August 2024, Vietnamese President To Lam was formally named as the new chief of the Communist Party, the country’s top position, two weeks after the death of the previous general secretary. As minister of public security (2016-2024), Lam oversaw a massive crackdown on dissent, with hundreds of journalists and rights defenders arrested and detained.

On 21st October 2024, the National Assembly named General Luong Cuong as the new president, unanimously approved by the 440 legislature members who attended the plenary session. Cuong has been a member of the politburo, the most powerful decision-making body of the Communist Party, since 2021. Before the appointment, he held a key position in the party secretariat, which made him the fifth-highest ranking official in the country.

In September 2024, the recommendations from the May 2024 Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Vietnam’s human rights record were adopted by the UN Human Rights Council. Vietnam fully accepted 17 of the 34 recommendations on civic space. It did not accept recommendations to repeal or review articles 117, 118 and 331 of the Penal Code, often used to criminalise activists, to release detainees or those imprisoned for exercising their rights to the freedom of expression, association or assembly and to create an independent national human rights institution.

In recent months, activists, journalists and bloggers have been arrested and convicted, including Ngo Thi To Nhien, Hoang Tung Thien, Phan Van Bach, Nguyen Vu Binh, Nguyen Chi Tuyen and Duong Van Thai. A new decree to increase control of associations has been issued while a draconian new decree tightening control of internet use is coming into effect.

Association

Environmental activist Ngo Thi To Nhien jailed

In July 2024, human rights group Project88 reported that a court had sentenced Ngo Thi To Nhien, director of a clean energy think tank, to three-and-a-half years in prison. The group said the closed-door trial in the capital, Hanoi, was held on 27th June.

As previously documented, Nhien was detained in September 2023 and charged with “stealing, buying, selling, or destroying the seal or documents of a state agency or organisation” under Article 342 of the criminal code.

Nhien was executive director of the Vietnam Initiative for Energy Transition Social Enterprise, or VIETSE. The group worked with Vietnamese authorities, foreign governments and corporations to try to reform the energy sector and accelerate its transition to carbon neutrality.

Jailed six years for defamation and advocacy for political pluralism

On 10th September 2024, a Hanoi court sentenced Hoang Tung Thien to six years in prison under Section 1, Article 117 of the Penal Code for allegedly “drafting and posting numerous articles on social media defaming party and state leaders.”

Furthermore, the Security Investigation Bureau of the Hanoi Police Department found that Thien, 46, had allegedly established two web pages and planned to form an independent political party that advocated for political pluralism and a multi-party system in Vietnam.

Democracy activist Phan Van Bach jailed for five years

The Hanoi People's Court on 16th September 2024 sentenced Phan Van Bach, a democracy activist and former contributor to the independent YouTube channel CHTV, to five years in prison on charges of “distributing anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Penal Code. Bach was convicted in a trial that lasted just about one hour.

Bach was arrested in December 2023 after the police alleged he had produced and published articles and video clips on social media that contained anti-state content. According to the indictment, between 2018 and 2022, Bach had used a Facebook account under his name to post 12 articles and six video clips that allegedly “distorted the policies of the party and the state,” “denied the leadership role of the Vietnamese Communist Party,” and “defamed state leaders and incited the masses to oppose the government.”

Police arrest individuals allegedly linked to a political organisation

On 30th September 2024, the Investigation Security Bureau of the Dong Nai Provincial Police declared they had arrested two more individuals, Nguyen Viet Tu and Trinh Ba Hanh, allegedly linked to the U.S.-based “Provisional Government of Vietnam”, a political group banned by the authorities that has been branded a “terrorist organisation.”

According to The Vietnamese, the police also searched their residences and charged them with “organising activities to overthrow the people’s administration.” This detention is part of an expanded investigation into the activities of the “Provisional Government of Vietnam”. Both men reside in Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai Province. The Dong Nai police searched their residences and confiscated hundreds of Republic of Vietnam flags, computers, and printers.

Member of pro-democracy group arrested

The Ho Chi Minh City Police Department on 9th November 2024 announced the arrest of Tran Khac Duc, 29, a member of a pro-democracy group known as the Assembly for Democracy and Pluralism established in 1982 to advocate for the democratisation of Vietnam through nonviolent, peaceful means.

Duc was charged with “making, storing, and distributing materials and information aimed at opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under Article 117 of the Penal Code. He was detained on 20th September 2024.

According to The Vietnamese, Tran Khac Duc has contacted and received directives from leaders of the Pluralistic Democratic Association to conduct anti-state activities. Duc was accused of managing this group’s website and drafting, posting, and sharing articles that contained content that insulted state leaders and revolutionary heroes, distorted history, denied revolutionary achievements, and sabotaged the “great national unity.”

Political prisoners released ahead of visit of Vietnam leader to the US

The Vietnamese authorities released several political prisoners just before the General Secretary of the Communist Party and President To Lam began his trip to the United States on 21st September 2024.

Among them is Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, 57, a democracy activist who received a 16-year sentence and five years of probation in 2010 after he was convicted of “organising activities to overthrow the people’s administration.” Thuc was freed in the early morning of 20th September 2024 after spending 15 years behind bars. His release came eight months before his sentence was due to expire. He said he was forced to accept a presidential pardon despite demanding to stay in prison.

Other individuals freed that same day include climate activist Hoang Thi Minh Hong, who was sentenced to three years on charges of “tax evasion” under Article 200 of the Penal Code in September 2023. The authorities also reportedly released Hoang Ngoc Giao, 68, a policy expert and director of the Institute for Research on Policy, Law and Development (PLD). He had been detained for nearly 21 months for investigations into his alleged “tax evasion.”

New decree to increase control of associations

In November 2024, the government issued a decree that increases restrictions on associations in Vietnam aimed at ensuring they stay under the control and do not threaten the absolute power of the ruling Communist Party.

According to human rights group Project 88, Decree 126 on the organisation, operation and management of associations, places new restrictions on associations operating in the country. Specifically, it makes it more difficult to establish an association and requires associations to receive government approval before they can operate legally. Further, it gives the government more power to control and monitor associations and grants the government broad powers to suspend and dissolve associations. Decree 126 replaces an earlier decree known as Decree 45.

In July 2023, the Communist Party issued Directive 24, which labels foreign influence a threat to Vietnam’s national security and orders further restrictions on local organisations. The Ministry of Home Affairs named Directive 24 as a driving force behind the need to replace Decree 45 with Decree 126.

Expression

Social media user jailed for six years

On 26th August 2024, the People's Court of Ha Tinh Province tried and sentenced Phan Dinh Sang, 57, a social media user living in Huong Khe District, to six years in prison and two years of probation under Article 117 of the Penal Code.

He was charged with posting and sharing information that “distorted history and slandered the authorities.” According to the provincial procuracy, between 2016 and 2023, Phan Dinh Sang had created and managed five different Facebook accounts to bring together reactionary opposition groups and associations in cyberspace “due to his dissatisfaction with the government.”

According to Project88, he also appears to have voiced support for activists and political prisoners, such as Pham Doan Trang, Ho Duc Hoa, Thai Van Duong, Le and Van Dung and posted criticism of government and corporate corruption, as well as land issues.

Court jails Facebook user over his online commentary

A court in Lam Dong Province on 24th Sept 2024 sentenced Hoang Viet Khanh, 41, a social media user, living in Duc Trong District, to eight years on charges of “making, storing, and distributing information, documents, and items critical of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under Article 117 of the Penal Code. After his sentence, Khanh must also serve an additional three years of house arrest.

Hoang Viet Khanh had a Facebook account with over 45,000 followers, and he often shared his commentaries on different social, economic and political issues. He publicly posted support for political prisoners and called for greater government transparency, especially in policing. In February 2024, the Security Investigation Bureau of the Lam Dong Provincial Police Department arrested him.

Journalist Nguyen Vu Binh jailed for seven years for ‘propaganda’

A court in Hanoi on 10th September 2024 jailed journalist Nguyen Vu Binh for seven years on charges of “distributing anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the criminal code.

As previously documented, Binh, a long-time critic of the government, was taken into custody on 29th February 2024. Binh worked for 10 years as a reporter with the official Tap Chi Cong San, or Communist Review, before becoming a prominent activist in Hanoi. In December 2000, he resigned and attempted to form an independent political party. He was also one of several dissidents who attempted to form an anti-corruption association in 2001.

Binh contributed to RFA Vietnamese from 2015 until his arrest. He wrote about corruption, land rights, police brutality, unfair trials, the right to peaceful protest, the economy, education, the environment, and Vietnam’s relationships with China and the United States.

Blogger Nguyen Chi Tuyen sentenced to five years in prison

A court in the capital Hanoi sentenced blogger Nguyen Chi Tuyen (also known as Anh Chi) on 15 August 2024, one of Vietnam’s best-known civil society activists and YouTubers, to five years in prison for his news reporting.

As previously documented, police arrested Tuyen in February 2024 in Hanoi and charged him under Article 117 of the penal code. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Tuyen used social media to report and comment on political and social issues. His AC Media YouTube channel, which focuses on the Ukraine war, has some 57,000 followers, while his Anh Chi Rau Den YouTube channel has 98,000 subscribers, according to CPJ’s review.

Tuyen also helped organise and participated in many anti-China protests in the early 2010s, and pro-environmental protests in the mid-2010s. He joined fellow activists to provide humanitarian assistance to impoverished people in rural areas and the victims of natural disasters. He also openly supported imprisoned rights activists.

Blogger handed 12-year prison sentence for anti-state propaganda

Vietnamese activist and blogger Duong Van Thai (pictured above) was tried in a closed trial on 30th October 2024, and sentenced to 12 years in prison, followed by three years of probation.

Thai fled to Thailand in 2018 fearing his criticisms of the Communist Party and government leaders on social media could attract the authorities’ attention and persecution. He was granted refugee status by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Bangkok. He was abducted by Vietnamese intelligence agents in Bangkok earlier in April 2024. Despite holding UN-recognised refugee status, he was forcibly returned to Vietnam, sparking international criticism regarding Hanoi’s cross-border targeting of dissidents.

UN working group finds detention of journalist Pham Chi Dung as arbitrary

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in October 2024 adopted an opinion on the case of journalist Pham Chi Dung, stating that his “deprivation of liberty lacks a legal basis” and his “detention resulted from his exercise of his right to freedom of opinion and expression. The working group also found that the journalist’s detention violates Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Dung, a prominent dissident journalist and writer, was arrested in November 2019 and is serving a 15-year prison term for sharing what Vietnam calls “anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of Vietnam’s 2015 penal code.

As previously documented, in 2014, Dung established and became the chairman of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam, an organisation of independent reporters who advocate for freedom of the press, freedom of expression, and democracy. He was a frequent commentator on Vietnamese politics in Vietnamese-language independent media such as VOA Vietnamese, as well as major international news outlets.

Restrictive internet laws coming into effect

A draconian new decree tightening control of internet use and the 2018 Law on Cybersecurity goes into effect on 25th December 2024. The stringent regulations introduced in this new decree could potentially limit freedom of speech and affect the privacy rights of internet users, especially when they prefer to remain anonymous on social media to comment on sensitive political issues.

According to Human Rights Watch, in November 2024, the Vietnamese government issued Decree 147 to regulate the use and provision of internet services and online information. It expands government control over access to information on the internet for vaguely defined reasons of “national security” and “social order,” and to prevent transgressions of Vietnam’s “morals, beautiful customs, and traditions.”

The decree requires social media platforms providing services to users in Vietnam to store user data, provide it to the authorities on demand, and take down anything the authorities consider “illegal content” within 24 hours.

Decree 147 requires “foreign organisations, enterprises and individuals” to verify users’ accounts via their phone numbers or their personal identification number, thus exposing dissidents, who have tended to post anonymously, to a risk of arrest.

Article 23 of the decree requires “foreign organisations, enterprises and individuals” that provide cross-border information, use data storage services in Vietnam, or have 100,000 visits from users in Vietnam to Store Vietnam users’ personal data, including their names, birth dates, and phone numbers, if they register their accounts, and provide it on demand to the Ministries of Information and Communications, and of Public Security, and other authorities.

Decree 147 includes other problematic provisions. Article 6 requires owners of public internet access points, such as at hotels, restaurants, airports, and other public spaces, to prevent internet users from carrying out “propaganda against the state.” The decree does not stipulate what these owners must do to prevent such acts, nor what punishment would apply to them if such acts occur.

As a prerequisite for registering all .vn domain names, Article 9 of the decree requires the “exclusion of any phrases that violate national interests” and “phrases that can be easily mistaken for a press agency or press product if the registered user is not a press agency” and that they be “in accordance with social morality.”