[Vacets-local-dc] [UN criticizes Vietnam for jailing Dr. Nguyen Dan Que ...]

[Hai Tran]

UN accuses Vietnam of violating international law for
jailing
dissident

by Ben Rowse

HANOI, Nov 15 (AFP) - The United Nations has
criticised Vietnam for
jailing an elderly pro-democracy activist and charged
the communist
regime with contravening international law, according
to a new report
released Monday.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said that
Dr Nguyen Dan
Que, 62, a distinguished doctor and long-standing
human rights
advocate, was wrongfully imprisoned for freedom of
expression.
Que, who has spent a total of 18 years in prison since
the late
1970s, was sentenced to 30 months in prison on July 29
at a one-day
closed trial for "abusing democratic rights".

He was the third cyber-dissident to be convicted that
month for using
the Internet to swap information and criticise the
government.
In a ruling made by judges from Algeria, Paraguay,
Spain, Hungary,
and Iran, the UN body found "the deprivation of
liberty of Dr. Nguyen
Dan Que is arbitrary" and in violation of
international law.
"The Working Group concludes that Dr Que's actions
constitute only
the peaceful exercise of his freedom of opinion and
expression which
is enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal
Declaration of Human
Rights," it said.

A copy of the judgement, which was delivered on
September 16 and
provided to the Vietnamese government in confidence,
was obtained by
AFP from the US-based human rights group Freedom Now,
which is
providing legal counsel to Que.

"We believe this ruling will embolden Dr. Que's
supporters around the
world to renew their efforts to secure his release and
will provide
substantial additional support for the United States,
European Union,
and other countries to apply pressure on to the
Government of
Vietnam," Jared Genser, president of Freedom Now said.

Last month 12 US Senators, including Patrick Leahy,
Edward Kennedy
and Elizabeth Dole, sent a letter to Vietnamese
President Tran Duc
Luong saying Que's imprisonment was "clear
persecution" and demanding
his immediate release.

Que, who is in poor health, was detained on March 17
last year
outside his home in the southern business capital of
Ho Chi Minh City
while on the way to an Internet cafe.

Amnesty International said his arrest was prompted by
a statement he
issued a few days earlier that was circulated on the
Internet in
which he said there was no freedom of information in
the communist
nation.

His conviction triggered strong criticism from
international human
rights groups. The New York-based Human Rights Watch
accused Hanoi of
continuing to use "heavy-handed attempts to silence
its critics".

On July 14, Pham Que Duong, a 73-year-old military
historian who
spent nearly 19 months in pre-trial detention, was
found guilty of
the same charges as Que and sentenced to 19 months in
prison.

His conviction followed the sentencing of fellow
cyber-dissident Tran
Khue, a 68-year-old former literature professor, to 19
months behind
bars on similar charges on July 9. Both men have since
been released.

Some diplomats say Que's longer sentence for the same
charges could
have been a result of his alleged refusal to accept a
shorter prison
term in exchange for leaving the country.

He rejected a similar offer to relocate to the United
States in 1998
after he was released from jail in an amnesty.

--

Associated Press
Monday November 15, 6:15 PM

UN calls for release of Vietnamese dissident Nguyen
Dan Que

U.N. human rights experts called for the release of
one of Vietnam's
best-known dissidents Monday, saying his detention
violates international civil
rights laws.

The five-member U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention said Dr. 
NguyenDan Que was unlawfully imprisoned after writing
articles criticizing the
government and calling for democracy.

"Dr. Que's actions constitute only the peaceful
exercise of his 
freedom of opinion and expression," the panel, which
investigates whether 
prisoners are held illegally, said in an opinion made
public Monday.

Que, a former Nobel Peace Prize nominee, has been in
jail for a total 
of nearly 20 years since 1978 and is currently serving
a 30-month sentence for
"abusing democratic rights to infringe upon the
interests of the State." He 
was arrested in 2003, days after he had written
articles posted on the Internet
critiizing government curbs on the media, and
sentenced in July.

The U.N. group said freedom of opinion and expression
are guaranteed 
by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the
International Covenant 
on Civil and Political Rights, to which Vietnam is a
party. It called on 
Vietnam to "take the steps necessary to remedy the
situation."

Officials in Hanoi did not immediately respond to a
request seeking
comment, but the U.N. experts noted they were
unsatisfied with Vietnam's 
limited reply to why Que was detained.

Freedom Now, a U.S.-based organization representing
Que, said it was
encouraged by the working group's finding.

"The judgment from the United Nations provides a
strong piece of
additional pressure to put on the government of
Vietnam," said Jared Genser,
organization president. "We would call today for the
immediate release of Dr. 
Que."

International human rights groups have repeatedly
called for Que's
release. In October, 54 members of the U.S. Congress
sent a letter to Vietnam's
president also demanding that Que be freed.

The author and physician was first arrested in 1978
and held for 10 
years without a trial for "rebelling against the
regime and forming a
reactionary organization," the working group said.

In 1991, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison on
charges of trying 
to overthrow the communist government after forming
the Non-Violent 
Movement for Human Rights and calling for free
elections and a multiparty system.

He was released in 1998 in a general amnesty.

The U.N. working group was comprised of experts from
Algeria, 
Paraguay, Spain, Hungary and Iran. Its opinion was
issued Sept. 16 but wasn't made public until Monday to
give Vietnam time to review it

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You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.


		
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