AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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AAAS Human Rights Action Network

FACTS OF THE CASE:

Ha Si Phu was placed under house arrest on May 12, 2000 with the possible charge of treason under Article 72 of Vietnam's Criminal Code. Authorities believe that Ha Si Phu may be one of the authors of an open appeal for greater democracy in Vietnam.

After finding a letter from Ha Si Phu and a copy of a statement calling for greater democracy in Vietman in the house of another leading dissident, Mai Thai Linh, the police searched Ha Si Phu's house on April 28 and confiscated his computer, printer and diskettes. On May 12, the police issued written statements that he was to be placed under house arrest and that he will be tried for treason under Article 72 of the Vietnam Criminal Code, which carries a possible sentence ranging from seven-year imprisonment to the death penalty. A condition of the house arrest is that Ha Si Phu is to report to police headquarters in Dalat, Lam Dong Province daily for interrogation.

Ha Si Phu is the pen name of Nguyen Xuan Tu. He is a biologist who completed his post-graduate work in Czechoslovakia. After completing his degree, he worked at the Vietnam Institute of Science, eventually holding the post of Vice-Director. However, when he refused to join the Communist Party, he was forced out of the Institute.

According to friends, he created a mini-laboratory in his small apartment. As his finances worsened, he turned his scientific knowledge into a small business of growing mushrooms for the market and brewing homemade beer.

Ha Si Phu is a member of a group of intellectual dissidents in Dalat, Vietnam. In 1988, he wrote a document entitled, "Hand In Hand We Go Under the (Direction of) Intelligence" which criticized the communist state of Vietnam. The document was published internationally in 1993. He also wrote several other critiques in the subsequent years, including his most well known, "Farewell to Ideology," which he wrote in 1995.

Ha Si Phu has been detained before for speaking out against the government. In 1995, he was charged with "stealing state secrets" for his possession of a copy of then-Prime Minster Vo Van Kiet's letter to the Vietnamese Communist Party, a letter that was well known in Vietnam and widely published abroad. He was imprisoned without trial from December 1995 to August 1996. He was given a brief, closed-door trial in August 1996, where he was sentenced to one year in prison. Amnesty International considered him a prisoner of conscience. In response to the international pressure calling for his release, Vietnamese officials released him in December 1996. After his release, he remained under unofficial house arrest with his telephone lines monitored and his house under security surveillance.

The arrest of Ha Si Phu constitutes a serious violation of international human rights standards, including basic protections listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ratified by Vietnam on 24 September 1982). They include:

Under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

• Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person (Article 3);
• everyone has the right to freedom of expression (Article 19); and
• everyone has the right to freedom of association (Article 20).

Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:

• Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention (Article 9);
• everyone has the right to freedom of expression (Article 19); and
• everyone has the right to freedom of association (Article 22).

(Sources for this alert include: Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Thong Luan Organization and the Free Vietnam Alliance)

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Please send fax or email messages:

• Calling on the government of Vietnam to release Ha Si Phu immediately and unconditionally on the grounds that he was arrested solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression.

APPEAL AND INQUIRY MESSAGES SHOULD BE SENT TO:

Phan Van Khai
Prime Minister
Hoang Hoa Tham
Ha Noi
Socialist Republic of Vietnam


Maj. Gen. Le Minh Huong
Minister of Public Security
Ministry of Public Security
Tran Binh Trong
Ha Noi
Socialist Republic of Vietnam


Nguyen Mang Cam
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1 Ton That Dam
Ha Noi
Socialist Republic of Vietnam

COPIES SENT TO:

His Excellency Le Van Bang
Ambassador to the United States
Embassy of Vietnam
1233 20th St., NW, Suite 501
Washington, DC 20036
Fax: 202 861 0917


Ambassador Douglas B. Peterson
Ambassador to Vietnam
Embassy of the United States of America
PSC 461, Box 400
FPO AP 96521-0002
Fax: 011 84 4 835 0484

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