International PEN strongly protests the three-and-a-half-year prison sentence handed to writer and journalist Tran Khai Thanh Thuy. PEN considers Tran Khai Thanh Thuy to be convicted solely for peacefully exercising her right to free expression, and calls for her immediate and unconditional release in accordance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Vietnam is a signatory.

Background Information

According to PEN's information, on February 5, 2010, the People’s Court in Dong Da District of Ha Noi sentenced Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, an established novelist, poet, essayist and former editor of the underground dissident magazine To Quoc (Fatherland), to three and a half years in prison and 47 months of probationary detention. The verdict, based on Article 104 of the Penal Code, was given after a one-day trial. At the same trial, Thuy’s husband Do Ba Tan was given a two-year suspended prison sentence and 47 months of probation, but has been allowed to remain at home to care for the couple’s youngest daughter, who is 13 years old.

Tran Khai Thanh Thuy was arrested on October 8, 2009, after publicly expressing her support for six dissidents facing trial. On the day of her arrest an incident took place near Thuy’s home in which two men reportedly attacked Thuy’s husband and she intervened in his defense. She was subsequently questioned and charged with assault, although it is widely believed that she herself was in fact a victim of the attack. Thuy suffers from diabetes and tuberculosis, and there are serious concerns that her health is deteriorating in prison. She is being held at Hoa Lo Number 1 Detention Camp (Cau Dien), Ha Noi.

Tran Khai Thanh Thuy has been under heavy surveillance and harassment since September 2006 for her writings published online. She was arrested at her home in April 2007, where she had already been under house arrest for six months for her critical writings. She is a member of the Union of Writers and the Club of Women Poets of Hanoi, and is a recipient of the 2008 Hellman Hammet Award. She is among at least 19 dissident writers currently detained in Vietnam.

Write A Letter

  • Calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Tran Khai Thanh Thuy and all those currently detained in Vietnam in violation of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Vietnam is a signatory;
  • Seeking assurances that she is given full access to all necessary medical care while in prison.

Send Your Letter To

His Excellency Nguyên Minh Triêt
President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Hanoi
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Nguyên Tân Dung
Prime Minister
1 Hoang Hoa Tham Street
Hanoi
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Lê Doan Hop
Minister of Culture and Information
1 Hoang Hoa Tham Street
Hanoi
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Please note that there are no fax numbers available for the Vietnamese authorities, so you may wish to ask the diplomatic representative of Vietnam in your country to forward your appeals. It would also be advantageous to ask your country’s diplomatic representatives in Vietnam to intervene in the case.

Please send appeals immediately. Check with PEN if sending appeals after April 30, 2010: ftw [at] pen.org