Native name Dang Xuan Dieu Occupation Engineer Name Dang Dieu | Nationality Vietnamese Religion Catholic | |
Known for Democracy activism, 2011 Arrest, 2013 Conviction | ||
Rencontre avec Dang Xuan Dieu
Đặng Xuân Diệu is a Vietnamese community mobiliser, activist and prominent member of the Catholic church. He was arrested in Vietnam on 30 July 2011, convicted over a two-day trial in January 2013 and sentenced to 13 years in prison. Dieu was released and exiled to France on 12 January 2017.
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2011 Arrest
An engineer known for being a citizen journalist and social activist, Dieu was arrested on July 30, 2011 at Tan Son Nhat Airport along with Hồ Đức Hoà and Nguyễn Văn Oai upon their return to Vietnam. This was the first in a series of arrests during the 2011 crackdown on Vietnamese youth activists.
2013 Conviction
On January 8–9, 2013, a trial was held by the People’s Court of Nghệ An Province for 14 democracy activists, primarily belonging to the Catholic church, one of which was Dang Xuan Dieu. All of them were sentenced to 3–13 years in prison on charges of subversion. During the court case, Dang Xuan Dieu was accused of participating in a training of Viet Tan, a US-based pro-democracy organization to establish democracy and reform Vietnam through peaceful and political means. Dieu has said of the allegations against him, “I have done nothing contrary to my conscience, so although the authorities may punish me physically and impose a severe sentence upon me, the government is only thereby trampling on the eternal good morals of the Vietnamese nation, which as its affair is a matter for which it must bear responsibility.”
International Response
Dang Xuan Dieu’s conviction sparked international outcry from elected representatives and NGO’s including the Center for Public Justice which described the sentencing as “outrageous lengths that Vietnamese authorities are willing to go to to suppress independent reporting”. The United States Embassy in Hanoi also released a statement which conveyed that it was “deeply troubled” by the convictions and called them “part of a disturbing human rights trend in Vietnam.”
Following reports of abuse and mistreatment while arbitrarily detained, activists in Vietnam and around the world have started a grassroots campaign in support of Dang Xuan Dieu. Efforts include several NGO’s issuing a joint letter calling to “cease the ill-treatment, physical and psychological abuse of Dang Xuan Dieu while in arbitrary detention” as well as the release of Dieu. Allen Weiner of Stanford Law School also filed an update to the petition to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) in which the detention of 16 Catholic youths was ruled arbitrary and unlawful regarding the accounts of assault Dieu has faced in prison. Various Swiss elected representatives have also visited the Vietnamese Consul in Geneva to bring attention to Dieu’s case.
On the 27th of October, 2014, many organisations had expressed their concern for Dang Xuan Dieu and his mistreatment in prison. Together, they released a letter calling for his immediate and unconditional release. These organisations include English PEN, ACAT France, Electronic Frontier Foundation, PEN International, Media Legal Defence Initiative and Viet Tan.