Phạm Thị Đoan Trang

Phạm Thị Đoan Trang is a Vietnamese competent author, blogger, journalist, publisher, and pro-democracy activist. She was born in 1978 in Hanoi city, graduated from Hanoi-Amsterdam High School and Hanoi Foreign Trade University. She was one of the first journalists of VnExpress with an interest in socio-politics and macro-economics, before working for nearly 10 other decorated state media outlets including Vietnamnet, The Law in Ho Chi Minh city newspaper (PLO), and VTC. [1] She is the co-author of the book “Bóng” (Shadow), the first published autobiography of a homosexual person in Vietnam. [2] In 2014, she received the research fellowship scholarship in Journalism and Politics at the University of Southern California (USC). [3]

Activism

In 2009, Ms. Trang was put in a nine-day detention when she was working for Vietnamnet. She had been known as the Vietnamnet editor of the series that explored the Spratlys and Paracels Islands conflict. [4] Following this incident, Phạm Đoan Trang followed an independent journalism career. She co-founded Luật Khoa tạp chí in 2014 and Nhà xuất bản Tự Do (Liberal Publishing House) in 2019, which in 2020 was awarded the International Publishers Association’s IPA Prix Voltaire. [5]

She is also the author of numerous books engaging Vietnamese people in conversations about politics and human rights, including Politics for the Common People (2017), Handbook of Non-violent Resistance Technique (2016), Handbook for Families of Prisoners of Conscience (2019), Politics of a Police State (2019), Fighting Impunity (2019), Report on the Dong Tam Village Attack (2020). Since 2015, her books were officially banned and could only be published covertly. [6] Before her arrest, she had been regularly detained and interrogated by the police for her writing.

Beside publishing books, Ms. Trang owns a Facebook page with, up to 2018, 60,000 followers and a personal blog with approximately 20,000 visitors daily where she comments on most politically sensitive matters in the country: the one-party system, the police state, the public demonstrations and the resulting oppression, the arrests of political activists. [7][8][9]

Ms. Trang is also known as the founder of the Green Trees, an independent CSO in environment protection (2015), the co-initiator of campaign “Rose Myrtles in Remembrance of the Border War” (2014), and the co-founder of the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers (2013). [10]

According to the 88 Project, before her arrest, Ms. Trang had been placed under temporary detention at least 20 times. She was subject to multiple brutal, physical attacks from the government for particular actions such as attending a meeting between then-US President Barack Obama and civil society organizations in Hanoi, demonstrating to protest Hanoi’s plan to chop down thousands of aged trees, and meeting with international diplomats. As a result of the authorities’ violent retaliation for her activism, Ms. Trang suffers from permanent joint effusion, synovitis, and somatic pain.

Arrest and detention

On October 6, 2020, Ms. Trang was arrested in Ho Chi Minh City by Ho Chi Minh City Police, in coordination with Hanoi Police and the Ministry of Public Security, under article 117 of the 2015 Criminal Code. She was held incommunicado for over a year until allowed to communicate with her lawyer for the first time on October 19, 2021.

After the trial that lasted for only four hours on December 14, Ms. Trang was sentenced to 9 years’ imprisonment, one year more than recommended by the prosecutor, for conducting “anti-state propaganda” under article 117. Ms. Trang was able to make an impactful closing remark despite not learning about her own trial until the day before. [11] Nevertheless, the judge repeatedly cut her off. This was also the first time Ms. Trang’s mother and brother were able to see her since her arrest in 2020.

Up to October 2021, Ms. Trang was suffering from low blood pressure beside diseases prior to the arrest, including those caused by the authorities. She reportedly had lost 10kg since her detention.

International communications

Ms. Trang was recognized and awarded by numerous international human rights organizations for her contribution and courage. Regarding her arrest and detention, around 40 international organizations and embassies have made statements asking for her release. Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns, said: “The arrest of Phạm Đoan Trang is reprehensible. She is a leading figure in the struggle for human rights in Viet Nam. She has inspired countless young activists to speak up for a more just, inclusive, and free Viet Nam. Phạm Đoan Trang faces an imminent risk of torture and other-ill treatment at the hands of the Vietnamese authorities.”

On November 4, 2021, the UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) released an opinion concerning Pham Doan Trang. [12] The WGAD concluded that the deprivation of liberty of Pham Doan Trang is in contravention of articles 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 19, 20 and 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 2, 9, 14, 15, 16, 19, 21, 22, 25 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The WGAD urges the Government of Viet Nam to release Ms. Trang immediately and accord her an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.

References:

[1] https://www.bbc.com/vietnamese/vietnam-49655619

[2] https://doantrang.liv.ngo/pham-doan-trang-the-humming-guitar-before-rainstorm-falls/

[3] https://luatkhoa.org/gioi-thieu-luat-khoa-tap-chi/

[4] https://www.bbc.com/vietnamese/vietnam/2009/08/090831_vnn_journalist_arrest

[5] https://www.luatkhoa.com/

[6] https://the88project.org/profile/286/pham-doan-trang/

[7] http://www.phamdoantrang.com/

[8] https://www.thevietnamese.org/2018/03/pham-doan-trang-the-humming-guitar-before-rainstorm-falls/

[9] https://www.facebook.com/pham.doan.trang

[10] https://the88project.org/profile/286/pham-doan-trang/

[11] https://the88project.org/profile/286/pham-doan-trang/