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.
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
Between July 2011 and December 2011 a number of young Vietnamese Christian activists, primarily located in northern province of Nghệ An, Vietnam, and working with the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, were arrested by the Vietnamese gove ...
.
2013 conviction
On January 8–9, 2013, a trial was held by the People's Court of Nghệ An Province for 14 democracy activists, mostly Catholics, 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 NGOs including the
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet ci ...
Media Legal Defence Initiative
Media Defence (registered company name: Media Legal Defense Initiative) is a non-governmental organization established in 2008 to provide legal assistance to journalists, citizen journalists and independent media institutions. It also supports trai ...
On 13 January 2017, Dang Xuan Dieu was finally released from prison after six years of arbitrary detention and sent to Paris. This followed pressure from the EU, human rights groups, elected officials and the Vietnamese community around the globe.
Allen Weiner of Stanford Law School, who serves as Dieu's international lawyer, stated: "It is gratifying that Mr. Dang Xuan Dieu has at last been released from prison. Mr. Dieu should never have been imprisoned; his arrest and imprisonment for engaging in peaceful political expression violated settled international human rights standards that Vietnam itself has accepted, as well as Vietnam's own constitution. Mr. Dieu has suffered terribly for engaging in forms of political expression routinely practiced in democratic states all over the world. At the same time, his release highlights the limits of the Vietnamese government's repressive power. It shows how the actions of civil society movements, international organizations, and governments around the world that support human rights can help defend the human rights of Vietnam's citizens."
Viet Tan's chairman, Do Hoang Diem, also stated: "We would like to thank Professor Allen Weiner, the EU, and every human rights organization and activist who has campaigned for Dang Xuan Dieu. While Dieu should never have been arrested in the first place or exiled from his home country, we are comforted that his ordeal is now over and that he can receive much needed medical attention."
See also
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2011 crackdown on Vietnamese youth activists
Between July 2011 and December 2011 a number of young Vietnamese Christian activists, primarily located in northern province of Nghệ An, Vietnam, and working with the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, were arrested by the Vietnamese gove ...
*
2013 Conviction of 14 Vietnamese Dissidents On January 8–9, 2013 a trial was held by the People's Court of Nghệ An Province, Vietnam for 14 democracy activists,
primarily belonging to the Catholic church, including high-profile blogger Paulus Le Son. All of them were sentenced to 3–1 ...