Nguyen Quoc Quan
Encyclopedia
Viet Tan
Việt Tân is a network of members inside Vietnam and around the world, that aims to establish democracy and reform Vietnam through peaceful and political means.The organization has its origins in the National United Front for the Freedom of Vietnam , founded on September 10,...
who was arrested in Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
on November 17, 2007 for preparing pro-democracy flyers. He also brought in a Vietnamese translation of "From Dictatorship to Democracy," a book about nonviolent resistance
Nonviolent resistance
Nonviolent resistance is the practice of achieving goals through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, and other methods, without using violence. It is largely synonymous with civil resistance...
.
He stood trial in Vietnam on May 13, 2008 on charges of "terrorism" and was sentenced to 6 months in prison. He was released on May 17, 2008 and returned to his home in Elk Grove
Elk Grove, California
Elk Grove is a city in Sacramento County, California, located just south of the state capital of Sacramento. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city is 153,015...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to his wife and two teenage sons.
Arrest
Nguyen Quoc Quan entered Vietnam on November 15, 2007 on a bicycle through the Cambodian border.On November 17, 2007 along with two other Viet Tan members (Truong Van Ba, a Hawaii restaurant owner, and Frenchwoman Nguyen Thi Thanh Van, a contributor to Viet Tan's Radio Chan Troi Moi radio show) he was arrested in the southern suburb of Ho Chi Minh City At the time, they were leading a "democracy seminar" and preparing pro-democracy pamphlets, when 20 security officers raided the house. Also arrested in the same coup were Vietnamese citizens Nguyen The Vu, Nguyen Trong Khiem, Nguyen Viet Trung and Thai journalist Somsak Khunmi.
The two-page pamphlet was entitled "Non-Violent Struggle: The Approach To Eradicate Dictatorship, Set The Stage for Democracy," and asks protesters to "faithfully maintain the discipline of non-violence."
The arrests were not officially confirmed by the Vietnamese government until November 22, 2007. During the press briefing, officials declined to state which laws the detained individuals have broken, nor released any information about Nguyen Quoc Quan, whose whereabouts remained unknown for almost a week.
At the beginning, state-controlled media in Vietnam acknowledged jailing only some, but not all activists. The website of the newspaper Sai Gon Giai Phong originally showed an image of US national Nguyen Quoc Quan wearing prison garb, but hours later replaced it with a manipulated image of him wearing a white shirt. Subsequent articles also listed his nationality as "unknown".
Authorities in Vietnam have attempted to link the arrest of these Viet Tan members to two Vietnamese Americans who reportedly attempted to smuggle firearms into the country six days after the original arrests. However, Viet Tan has firmly denied any association with those individuals.
International response
The arrest was condemned by organizations and individuals worldwide including Reporters Without BordersReporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
and Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
. In a letter to US Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
, US representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Loretta Sanchez
Loretta Sanchez
Loretta Sanchez is the U.S. Representative for , and previously the 46th, serving since 2003. She is a member of the Democratic Party, and a member of the Blue Dog Coalition. The district lies in central Orange County....
, Zoe Lofgren
Zoe Lofgren
Zoe Lofgren is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1995. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is based in San Jose.-Early life, education, and early career:...
, and Neil Abercrombie
Neil Abercrombie
Neil Abercrombie is the 7th and current Governor of Hawaii. He was the Democratic U.S. Representative of the First Congressional District of Hawaii which comprises urban Honolulu. He served in Congress from 1986 to 1987 and from 1991 to 2010 when he resigned to successfully run for governor...
wrote "Not only do we ask you to work to return these United States citizens to the United States, but we ask you to convey to the government of Vietnam that the arbitrary detention of United States citizens is unacceptable."
Coinciding with Human Rights Day
Human Rights Day
Human Rights Day is celebrated annually across the world on 10 December.The date was chosen to honor the United NationsGeneral Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , the first global enunciation of human rights...
on December 10, 2008, 11 members of the United States congress wrote a joint letter to the prime minister of Vietnam inquiring why the group of people are being detained in Vietnam and when they will be returned to their families in the United States.
Appeal for release
In response to the detention, California-based Viet TanViet Tan
Việt Tân is a network of members inside Vietnam and around the world, that aims to establish democracy and reform Vietnam through peaceful and political means.The organization has its origins in the National United Front for the Freedom of Vietnam , founded on September 10,...
organized an international campaign under the name of Free Them Now that included a petition demanding for an immediate release. The petition collected more than 18,000 signatures. In addition, an international lobbying campaign was undertaken to rally support of Western government officials behind this issue, including many elected officials from the United States, Norway, France and Australia. The broad support of this campaign by many officials is credited for his eventual release.
On January 7, 2008 55 members of the California assembly signed a letter to the president of the Vietnam stating the "arbitrary detention of these individuals is unacceptable" and requested their immediate release.
On March 12, 2008, chairman of Viet Tan, Do Hoang Diem
Do Hoang Diem
Đỗ Hoàng Điềm is the current chairman of Viet Tan. He was born in Saigon, Vietnam, in 1963 and was elected to chairman in September 2006 at the 6th Party Congress.- History :...
, appeared before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs along with Nguyen Quoc Quan's wife to appeal to lawmakers to confront the issue. The next day, U.S. Representative Zoe Lofgren
Zoe Lofgren
Zoe Lofgren is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1995. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is based in San Jose.-Early life, education, and early career:...
(D-CA) sponsored and introduced a house resolution condemning the detention of Dr. Nguyen Quoc Quan, and calls for a removal of permanent normal trade relations status with Vietnam until Dr. Nguyen is released. Co-sponsors of the bill include U.S. representatives Steven Chabot (R-OH), Thomas Davis
Thomas M. Davis
Thomas Milburn "Tom" Davis III was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Virginia's 11th congressional district in Northern Virginia. Davis was considering a run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by five-term incumbent and fellow Republican John...
(R-VA), Bob Filner
Bob Filner
Robert Earl Filner is the U.S. Representative for , and previously the 50th, serving since 1993, and Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic Party...
(D-CA), Nicholas Lampson (D-TX), Daniel Lungren (R-CA), Michael McNulty (D-NY), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1989. She is a member of the Republican Party....
(R-FL) and Frank Wolf (R-VA).
Angela P. Aggeler, secretary for press and cultural affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
, said "U.S. officials both here in Vietnam and in Washington have repeatedly called for the release of any individual for peacefully expressing his or her views and we have urged them to release Dr. Quan and that he be allowed to return to the United States as swiftly as possible,"
Detention
During Nguyen Quoc Quan detention in Vietnam along with Thai citizen Somsak Khumni and Vietnamese businessman Nguyen The Vu, the U.S. consulate was allowed to visit him only once per month. Family visits were prohibited altogether. His wife was first granted a visa to visit him in January 2008, though the Vietnamese consulate revoked the visa one week prior her scheduled trip. She was able to talk to him only after his release 6 months later.Trial and sentence
Nguyen Quoc Quan along with the other two remaining detainees, Nguyen The Vu, and Somsak Kunmi stood trial in Vietnam on May 13, 2008. Officials from the U.S. consulate attended the behind-the-doors trial.Nguyen Quoc Quan was sentenced to 6 months in prison, but since he has already served that time, was released on May 17, 2008. Nguyen The Vu was released immediately, and Somsak Kunmi will server another three months before he will be released. Other than the sentences, the preceding judge would not release any further detail of the trial.
Following the sentencing, a U.S. Embassy spokeswoman in Hanoi said in a statement: "We welcome his release and return to the United States. We remain disappointed by the decision of the Government of Vietnam to charge Dr. Quan with 'terrorism.' We are not aware of any information that would support charges of 'terrorism'. We object to the detention and prosecution of any individual for peacefully expressing his or her own views."
Michael Orona, The US State Department deputy director overseeing human rights, said that Nguyen "shouldn't have been arrested in the first place."
When Dr. Quan returned to United States, he was greeted by a group of cheering supporters, including Sacramento assembly man Dave Jones
Dave Jones (politician)
David Evan "Dave" Jones is an American politician. He represented California's 9th assembly district December 2004 through 2011...
.