VIETNAM THUGS BEAT UP ACTIVISTS
Dissidents attacked and harassed in presence of police, says rights group
HANOI
PLAINCLOTHES “thugs” suspected of having links to Vietnam’s government have attacked dozens of dissidents since 2015 in a bid to silence critics in the oneparty state, Human Rights Watch and activists said.
Freedom of expression is severely restricted in communist Vietnam, where independent media is banned and dissidents are routinely thrown in jail.
The government also has a long history of harassing bloggers and activists, with awareness of violent attacks growing in recent years as dissidents turn to social media to share accounts of bloody wounds and bruised limbs.
In a new report yesterday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) described 36 incidents of physical assault on dissidents by men in civilian clothing across Vietnam between January 2015 and April this year.
“While the precise links between the thugs and the government are usually impossible to pin down, in a tightly controlled police state, there is little or no doubt that they are aligned with and serving at the behest of state security services,” the report said.
In many cases, the violence took place in the presence of uniformed police officers who did not intervene, it added.
“The fact that thugs abducted activists in broad daylight, forced them into vans, and beat them, demonstrates the impunity with which activists are persecuted,” said HRW Asia director Brad Adams.
The US State Department and other rights groups such as Amnesty International have reported harassment and abuse by plainclothes police.
The government did not respond to a request for comment on the report.
Dissident La Viet Dung said he was attacked by six men in July last year after playing a football match with other activists here.
He was smashed in the face with a brick, and bears a scar above his eye today.
“The attacks on me and others came from plainclothes men,” said the 42-year-old software developer, who continued to face surveillance by authorities.
Activist Pham Doan Trang, 38, said she had faced harassment at the hands of plainclothes police several times, including being physically assaulted at a protest in 2015.
Activists also reported being punched, beaten with metal tubes or dragged into vans and abandoned in deserted areas, HRW said.
Because the attackers were unidentified, victims said they had no legal recourse if they were harassed.
The rights watchdog called on international donors and trade partners to demand an end to the abuse in Vietnam, a leading recipient of foreign aid. AFP