Hồ Đức Hoà (born 1974) is a community organizer and journalist who has been arrested in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

and sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2013. __NOTOC__

2011 Arrest

Hồ Đức Hoà is known for being a contributing journalist for the Vietnam Redemptorist News and for actively mobilizing access to education for children living in poverty and assistance to typhoon victims and people living with disabilities. Hoà was arrested on July 30, 2011 at Tan Son Nhat Airport along with Dang Xuan Dieu and Nguyen Van Oai upon their return to Vietnam. They were detained on unspecified charges under Article 79 which outlines activities aimed at overthrowing the government. 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 Province, Nghệ An, Vietnam, and working with the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, were arrested by t ...

2013 Conviction

A trial was held on January 8 and 9 by the People's Court of Nghệ An Province for 14 social activists, including Paulus Lê Sơn and Hoà. All human rights defenders were sentenced to 3 to 13 years in charges of subversion. During the court case, Hoà was accused of involved in a training session organised by

Viet Tan The Vietnamese people (, ) or the Kinh people (), also known as the Viet people or the Viets, are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to modern-day northern Vietnam and southern China who speak Vietnamese, the most widely spoken Austroas ...

, a US-based pro-democracy organization to establish democracy and reform Vietnam through peaceful and political means. Along with Dang Xuan Dieu and Paulus Le Son, Hoà was convicted to 13 years in prison followed by 5 years in house arrest. During the following appeal trial, Hoà's sentence remain unchanged.

International Response

Hoà's arrest sparked immediate uproar from various NGO's and Members of Congress including

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

which described it as a "new blot on the country’s already problematic record on freedom of religion". The Embassy of the United States in Vietnam said that they were "deeply troubled" following the conviction of the activists over the two-day trial.

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (SLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Stanford University, a Private university, private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, Stanford Law had an acceptance rate of 6.28% i ...

's Allen Weiner filed a petition to the United Nations Working Group for Arbitrary Detention (UNGWAD) on behalf of the families of the detained activists including Hoà in July 2012. On November 28, 2013 the UNWGAD ruled in favour of the petition by Weiner, ruling the detention to be arbitrary and unlawful while condemning the treatment of the 16 social and political activists.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ho, Duc Hoa Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Vietnam Vietnamese democracy activists Vietnamese human rights activists Vietnamese dissidents Vietnamese prisoners and detainees 1974 births Living people

2011 Arrest

2013 Conviction

International Response

See also

References