Nguyễn Văn Hải (born c. 1952; also known as Nguyễn Hoàng Hải), better known by his pen name Điếu Cày, is a Vietnamese blogger who has been prosecuted by the

government of Vietnam The Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (; less formally the Vietnamese Government or the Government of Vietnam, ) is the Cabinet (government), cabinet and the central Executive (government), executive arm of the Politics of Vietn ...

for

tax evasion Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to red ...

and "disseminating anti-state information and materials". His imprisonment was protested by several international human rights organizations, and

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

considers him a

prisoner of conscience A prisoner of conscience (POC) is anyone imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views. The term also refers to those who have been imprisoned or persecuted for the nonviolent expression of their conscienti ...

. On 21 October 2014, he was released and deported to the United States.

Journalism

Nguyễn Văn Hải publishes his reporting through a blog, ''Dieu Cay'' ("Peasant's Pipe"), which also serves as his pen name. He is a founding member of the Club for Free Journalists, created in September 2007. In 2008, he participated in as well as reported on Vietnamese protests against the Beijing Olympics following a China-Vietnam maritime dispute.

Arrest and prosecution

Hải was arrested on 20 April 2008 in

Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

, and his computers and files were confiscated. He was then charged with tax evasion and sentenced to thirty months' imprisonment. He was scheduled for release in October 2010, but on the day of his release, his sentence was extended "pending further investigation". His home was allegedly also raided and his wife Duong Thi Tan beaten. On 5 July 2011, Duong Thi Tan was informed that Nguyễn Văn Hải had lost one of his arms due to an injury sustained in prison. In April 2012, he was brought to an additional trial for "spreading anti-government propaganda" along with bloggers Ta Phong Tan and

Phan Thanh Hải Phan Thanh Hải (born c. 1969) is a Vietnamese dissident blogger. Blogging as "Anhbasg" or "Anh Ba Sài Gòn" at the website "Independent Journalists' Club", Phan discussed controversial topics including other dissidents, Vietnam's maritime bord ...

. Nguyễn Văn Hải pleaded not guilty. According to the state newspaper '' Thanh Nien'', Nguyễn Văn Hải and Phan Thanh Hải were also believed to have attended a training seminar sponsored by the overseas opposition party

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 ...

International reactions

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 ...

condemned the arrests and called for the immediate release of the three bloggers. In 2009, the group awarded Nguyễn Văn Hải its Hellman- Hammett Award "for writers who have suffered persecution as a result of their writings".

designated him a

, expressing concern at reports of his weight loss and deteriorating health. On 6 March 2012, former

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

Joseph Cao Ánh Quang "Joseph" Cao ( ; ; born March 13, 1967) is a Vietnamese Americans, Vietnamese-American politician who was the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for from 2009 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party (United ...

organized a Vietnamese-American lobbying effort for Hải, Nguyễn Văn Ly, Nguyễn Dan Que, and other Vietnamese political prisoners, calling on the administration of President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

and the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

to take a stronger stand on their behalf. In April,

Civil Rights Defenders Civil Rights Defenders (Formerly the Swedish Helsinki Committee) is an international non-governmental organisation based in Stockholm, Sweden, that does human rights work with a focus on civil and political rights. They primarily work to support ...

named him its Human Rights Defender of the Month. On 17 April, a

US State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

spokeswoman called on Vietnam to release Nguyễn Văn Hải and the other bloggers, stating that the three had "done nothing more than exercise their universally recognized rights to freedom of expression". U.S. President

said in May 2012 that "we must not forget journalists like blogger Dieu Cay, whose 2008 arrest coincided with a mass crackdown on citizen journalism in Vietnam" In 2013, he was awarded the International Press Freedom Award of the New York-based

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists. The '' American Journalism ...

Trial and sentence

In September 2012, in a one-day trial of three dissidents including Ta Phong Tan and

, Nguyễn Văn Hải received the harshest sentence of twelve years in prison. ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' described the session as looking "very much like an old-fashioned Soviet-style show trial". Prosecutors stated that the three had "distorted the truth about State and Party, created anxiety among citizens and supported schemes to overthrow the government", while the court found that they were "seriously affecting national security and the image of the country in the global arena." Phan Thanh Hải, who had pleaded guilty, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment, and Ta Phong Tan to ten years. Nguyễn Văn Hải's former wife, Duong Thi Tan, stated that police detained her and her son for several hours to prevent them from attending the trial. The sentences were upheld by an appeals court on 28 December 2012.

Release

On 21 October 2014, Hải was released by the Vietnamese authorities and sent to the United States.

References