UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 001012

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV SOCI CASC DO THANH CONG PREL VM
SUBJECT: MORE HCMC POLITICAL ACTIVISTS DETAINED

REF: HCMC 318; B) HCMC 936 AND 925; C) HCMC 999 AND 998


1. (SBU) Contacts in the HCMC dissident community confirm
Internet reports that police have stepped up pressure on members
of the "8406 Bloc." Dissident Do Nam Hai (aka Phuong Nam) told
us that he was notified on August 30 by the HCMC authorities
that they were going to seize personal assets to collect VND16.5
million (USD 1,050), the amount he had been fined earlier in the
year for sending illegal information over the internet. (Ref A).
(Hai also was fined another VND 20 million (USD 1,500) for
"illegal publishing" when he distributed 12 copies to his
colleagues of his writings on multi-party democracy.) The asset
seizure order came after Hai rejected the government accusation
and refused to pay the fine. Hai told us that the police have
also "warned" his parents about the seizure order. Hai lives
with his parents. He noted that police continue to harass his
family to press him to quit his political activities.


2. (SBU) According to 8406 Bloc member Pham Ba Hai, on September
2, Nguyen Ngoc Quang, another 8406 Bloc member was detained in
Hue after he and two other Bloc members consulted with Bloc
founder Father Nguyen Van Ly. The following day, Ministry of
Public Security officials from the MPS Southern Command searched
Quang's house in HCMC. They seized his computer and written
materials. The MPS officials also informed Quang's wife of his
detention, but did not specify the charges against him. We
believe that Quang remains in detention.


3. (SBU) Pham Ba Hai added that police subsequently summoned
Quang's wife to question her about articles critical of the GVN
in his computer. These are articles written by HCMC-based
dissident writer Tran Manh Hao which Quang had downloaded from
the Internet. Quang undoubtedly would have had to bypass GVN
firewalls to download the articles. End Comment.) Hai
speculated that Quang's arrest may be linked to his admission
that he recorded and posted on the Internet an earlier August
police interrogation session with him (Ref B).


4. (SBU) Do Nam Hai confirmed to us that on September 5, Bloc
member Vu Hoang Hai was handcuffed and arrested at his home in
HCMC on unknown charges. A report later circulated on dissident
website http://www.doi-thoai.com detailed that the police seized
a camera, note books and written materials. They also seized
medical records that purportedly documented neck and wrist
injuries that police inflicted on Hai during an interrogation
session in early August. (Ref B). Following his arrest, police
reportedly stepped up surveillance of his home and instructed
his family to report any contact from "outsiders."


5. (SBU) Comment: Many of articles that Bloc member Nguyen Ngoc
Quang downloaded from the Internet appear on the website linked
to arrested AmCit activist Cong Thanh Do and the People's
Democratic Party of Vietnam (PDP-VN). The recent arrests of the
three 8406 block members brings to six the number of HCMC
political activists detained with the past three weeks. (Per
ref C, two other members of the PDP-VN, Nguyen Le Sang and
Nguyen Huong Dao, were arrested along with AmCit Cong Thanh Do.)
Do Nam Hai and the three arrested 8406 Bloc dissidents were
among the 17 Bloc members who met in HCMC in early August to
coordinate political activities. Other arrests may follow.

WINNICK