SOUTHERN DISSIDENT WATCH POST-APEC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 HO CHI MINH CITY 001348

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

CONFIDENTIAL

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/2016
TAGS: PHUM SOCI PREL PGOV KIRF PREF VM
SUBJECT: SOUTHERN DISSIDENT WATCH POST-APEC

REF: A. HCMC 1270; B) HCMC 1090 AND PREVIOUS; C) HANOI


B. 2816

C. HCMC 999 AND PREVIOUS; E) HCMC Q0; F)HCMC 994

D. AND PREVIOUS

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Classified By: Consul General Seth Winnick for reasons 1.5
b/d.


1. (C) Summary and Comment: In the run up to APEC and in
response to the stepped up activities of various dissident
groups, the GVN intensified its suppression of pro-
democracy activists. As reported Ref C, example phone and
Internet access to dissidents was cut and many faced
constant police harassment.


2. (C) Post-APEC, the GVN appears to be taking a two-
pronged approach to the dissident question.
Internationally recognized dissidents and intellectuals
based in southern and central Vietnam report that the level
of surveillance and harassment has returned to "routine"
levels since the conclusion of APEC. However, GVN
authorities continue to detain at least 13 and possibly as
many as 17 activists who were apparently involved in
attempting to organize and mobilize farmers, workers and
students. For example, three members of a newly founded
independent workers and farmers association reportedly were
detained in early November. In another case, HCMC police
involuntarily committed a land-rights activist, Bui Kim
Thanh, to the criminal ward of the national mental hospital
in Dong Nai Province. Thanh was a principal mover in the
peasants' land rights movement centered in HCMC and the
Mekong Delta (Ref A).


3. (C) Over the next few weeks, HCMC will begin to raise
the profile of our contacts with dissidents and the
families of those in detention. In particular, we will
focus on the case of Bui Kim Thanh and urge her release
from involuntary confinement in a mental institution. A
summary of the status of dissident groups follows. End
Summary and Comment.

Do Nam Hai and the 8406 Bloc
--------------


4. (C) Co-founder of the 8406 Bloc Do Nam Hai told us that
police substantially intensified pressure on him two weeks
before the APEC Leaders' Summit. He was summoned for
police questioning virtually every day during the week of
APEC. He also was prevented from meeting other dissidents.
On November 29 he was picked up by police while on his way
to a press conference with foreign reporters and other HCMC
democracy activists. On November 28, Hai told us that
police surveillance had eased and he was no longer summoned
for police questioning.


5. (C) Four members of the 8406 Bloc remain under
detention. Truong Quoc Huy, who first surfaced as an
Internet dissident in the PalTalk case in 2005, was
arrested in August. Huy was detained after "covering" land
protests in HCMC for the 8406 Bloc and posting reports of
the protests on the Internet. Huy's mother and brother
Truong Quoc Tuan (also an 8406 Bloc member) have not been
able to visit Huy. They report that police also have
pressured their employer to end their contract. Three
members of the Bach Dan Giang group -- a little-known 8406
affiliate planning to organize student-led protests during
APEC -- have been under arrest since September. The wife
of Nguyen Ngoc Quang told us that he has been formally
charged with "propagandizing against the government."
Family members of Vu Hoang Hai and Pham Ba Hai also report
the individuals' continuing detention. Additionally,
another associate of Huy's, Nguyen Thu tram, remains in
hiding. According to Do Nam Hai, she fears arrest for her
role in covering land protests in HCMC.


6. (C) 8406 Bloc member Nguyen Chinh Ket also told us that
he had been summoned for regular interrogation sessions
with police in the three weeks prior to, and during, APEC.
On November 15 police searched his house and confiscated
two computers, one of which belonged to his daughter, a
graphics design student. Pro-democracy materials were
found on both machines, leading the police to summon his
daughter for questioning as well. Although police
harassment has ebbed, Ket complained that the authorities
were preventing him from pursuing his travel plans to the
United States where he is to receive an award from Vietnam
Human Rights network based in California. He told us that,
on November 28, police prevented him from entering HCMC's
Citibank offices to pay the mandatory visa application fee.

HO CHI MIN 00001348 002.2 OF 004


Police intercepted him at the entrance to the building and
told him that he was a security threat and could not enter.
On November 29, Ket's daughter was able to enter the
building and pay the visa fee on his behalf. Ket will
attempt to visit the Consulate for his visa interview on
December 4.


7.(C) Cong Thanh Do, the American citizen member of the
People's Democratic Party of Vietnam (PDP-VN),reports to
us that six other members of the group remain in police
custody. (Per Ref B, the six were arrested along with
American Citizen Cong Thanh Do in August for their efforts
to disseminate anti-Communist Party writings in HCMC and
the Mekong Delta.) We have only been able to learn the
names of three of the PDP-VN arrestees: Le Nguyen Sang, Le
Trung Hieu and Huynh Nguyen Dao. We have been able to
contact family members of Sang and Dao, who confirm their
arrest and possible sentencing for "violating information
technology regulations" and "storing anti-government
materials."


8. (C) Dr. Que reported on November 27 that the checkpoints
and heavy police surveillance placed around his home pre-
APEC have been removed. His landline and cell phones
remain blocked, but he still has Internet access. The cell
phone of Que's wife also is operating normally. Before and
during APEC, Que reported that police had blocked a number
of dissidents, including Do Nam Hai, from visiting him.
Que confirmed that he reversed his previous decision and
has joined formally the "Alliance for Democracy," a pro-
democracy umbrella organization created by Do Nam Hai and
Hue-based activist Father Nguyen Van Ly. (Note: Que's
profile was raised higher on the eve of the APEC Leaders'
Summit because of his op-ed piece on democracy in Vietnam
in the Asian Wall Street Journal. End Note.)

The UBCV
--------------


9. (C) Thich Vien Dinh, a leading monk in the Unified
Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV),told us that police
intensified its oversight of key UBCV pagodas in HCMC in
the weeks leading up to APEC. On November 19 he was
summoned by police who ordered him not to meet any
foreigners until after November 21. Police also ordered
him to expel from his pagoda two visiting UBCV monks from
the Mekong Delta - Thich Thien Minh and Thich Chon Tam.
The two monks had sought shelter in HCMC following police
pressure on them and their families in the run up to APEC.
Thich Vien Dinh told us that he was ignoring the expulsion
order and on November 28, he reported that police pressure
had returned to "normal." Thich Vien Dinh added that, on
November 11, he escorted UBCV Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang
back to his pagoda in Binh Dinh province. The Patriarch
had requested to return to Central Vietnam not until early
2007, when his next medical check in HCMC is due.

Tran Khue and Bui Kim Thanh
--------------


10. (C) Deputy General Secretary of the Democratic Party of
Vietnam Tran Khue appears to be the only major HCMC-based
dissident to report continuing high levels of surveillance
and harassment after APEC. Khue told us that police
continue to main new checkpoints to deter visitors -
especially land rights activists and petitioners. He added
that, on November 17, he was "invited" to meet with police
to discuss the case of land rights activist Bui Kim Thanh,
but he refused to attend.


11. (C) Khue told us that Thanh remains involuntarily
committed to the criminal ward of the national mental
institution in Dong Nai province. Some colleagues in the
land dispute movement have been able to visit her on
occasion. They reported that Thanh said that authorities
offered her early release on the condition that she would
commit not to involve herself any longer with the land
rights movement or the Democratic Party of Vietnam. Thanh
reportedly refused.

The Hoa Hao
--------------


12. (C) A contact in the Hoa Hao community in the Mekong
Delta province of An Giang told us that he and another 40
followers from provinces in the Mekong Delta planned a
demonstration in front of the HCMC zoo on November 19, the

HO CHI MIN 00001348 003.2 OF 004


day that the President arrived in HCMC. Police prevented
the effort. Our contact said that, on November 18, when he
and other demonstrators were to leave for HCMC, police
surrounded their houses. HCMC police also rounded up
others who had arrived in HCMC earlier. These individuals
were released after the President departed Vietnam.


13. (C) Separately, Hoa Hao contacts told us that on
November 21, police in the Mekong Delta province of Vinh
Long arrested Nguyen Van Thi, a member of the Hoa Hao group
affiliated with radical activist Le Quang Liem. On
November 4, Vinh Long police also arrested Le Van Soc,
another leader of the Liem faction in the province. A
member of the 8406 bloc, Soc reportedly was wanted by
police for his involvement in an earlier hunger-strike
protest in May (Ref E). He reportedly was planning a
similar protest in the run-up to the APEC Summit. Two
other Hoa Hao followers affiliated with Liem were detained
in October: Nguyen Van Tho and his wife Duong Thi Tron.
Tho is Liem's "chief representative" in Dong Thap Province.
The couple was the chief organizers and hosts of the May
hunger strike. Tron and Liem's adopted daughter Nguyen Thi
Thanh (who was arrested in February 2006) were accused by
police of homicide for instigating and assisting in the
immolation and death of a Hoa Hao elder - Nguyen Thi Thu -
in March 2001. Liem himself is being investigated by
police for his alleged leading role in the immolation.

Fathers Ly and Loi
--------------


14. (C) Post is in regular email and cell phone contact
with dissident leader Father Nguyen Van Ly. Father Ly, co-
founder of the 8406 bloc and of the "Alliance for
Democracy," reported that he and other Hue-based dissidents
did not face any additional pressure before or during APEC.

Ha Si Phu
--------------


15. (C) Dalat-based dissident writer Ha Si Phu told us that
police intensified surveillance of his house three weeks
ago, before and during APEC. For the first time in two
years, police established a round-the-clock checkpoint
directly in front of his house to prevent access. The
police presence ended after APEC.

The Independent Trade Union
--------------


16. (C) On October 20, Hanoi-based dissident Nguyen Khac
Toan and two young HCMC-based individuals, Le Tri Tue and
Tran Thien An, announced on the Internet the creation of
the "Independent Trade Union of Vietnam." Tue is a private
businessman and An is a graduate student at the HCMC Law
School. Tue told us that he was summoned for repeated
working sessions with police from November 14 to 20. He
was questioned about his membership in the 8406 bloc and
his involvement in the trade union. (Earlier in the year,
Tue was involved in photographing land rights protestors in
HCMC and disseminating pictures on the Internet.) An told
us by phone that police have "been asking around" about
him, but have not yet approached him directly. As of
November 30, both Tue and An have not been detained by
police.

United Workers - Farmers Organization
--------------


17. (C) In an Internet declaration October 30, Nguyen Tan
Hoanh, Nguyen Thi Le Hong, Hoang Huy Chuog and Nguyen Thi
Tuyet announced the creation of the "United Workers-Farmers
Organization (UFWO)." The organization's "charter"
denounces the Communist Party for human rights violations,
calls for the formation of independent labor unions and
protests the lack of land and property rights in Vietnam.
Of the four founders, only Nguyen Tan Hoanh is known to us
or to others in the dissident community. Hoanh reportedly
participated in wildcat labor strikes in the HCMC area in
early 2006. According to Internet reports on a dissident
web site, three of the four members of the group reportedly
were arrested within two weeks of the formation of the
group. Family members of Doan Huy Chuong confirmed to us
that he had been detained along with his father, Doan Van
Dien, on November 24 in Dong Nai province for their
participation in the UWFO. Chuong's brother was also taken
in but later released. Chuong's family told us he and his
father are being kept in a prison in Dong Nai province.

HO CHI MIN 00001348 004.2 OF 004


Nguyen Tan Hoanh was reportedly detained in Dong Nai
province and Nguyen Thi Le Hong detained in HCMC on
November 15. In an e-mail to us, the PDP-VN Cong Thanh Do
reported that another three members of the UWFO, Le Ba
WINNICK