Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06HOCHIMINHCITY1485
2006-12-26 03:56:00
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
Consulate Ho Chi Minh City
Cable title:  

HUMAN RIGHTS CASE OF DOAN VAN DIEN AND DOAN HUY CHUONG

Tags:  PINR PHUM SOCI KIRF PGOV PREL VM 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO4211
RR RUEHHM
DE RUEHHM #1485/01 3600356
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 260356Z DEC 06
FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1914
INFO RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI 1405
RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 2073
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 001485 

SIPDIS

C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (MISSING TEXT)

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/11/2016
TAGS: PINR PHUM SOCI KIRF PGOV PREL VM
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS CASE OF DOAN VAN DIEN AND DOAN HUY CHUONG

REF: HCMC 1361 AND PREVIOUS

HO CHI MIN 00001485 001.3 OF 002


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


C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 001485

SIPDIS

C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (MISSING TEXT)

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/11/2016
TAGS: PINR PHUM SOCI KIRF PGOV PREL VM
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS CASE OF DOAN VAN DIEN AND DOAN HUY CHUONG

REF: HCMC 1361 AND PREVIOUS

HO CHI MIN 00001485 001.3 OF 002


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



1. (C) Summary. Following up on reftel reports of a series
of dissident arrests prior to the APEC Leaders' Summit,
ConGen was able to confirm the detention of Doan Van Dien
and Doan Huy Chuong -- father and son -- in HCMC. They
appear to have been targeted for their peaceful political
and social activism. Based on a private conversation with
Dien's wife, the two detainees are affiliated with the
People's Democratic Party of Vietnam, of which AMCIT Thanh
Cong Do is a signature member. Dien also is a Protestant
preacher is affiliated with controversial Mennonite Pastor
Nguyen Hong Quang. Quang reportedly introduced father and
son to Do and the PDP-VN. Despite the arrests of Dien and
Chuong, thus far, local officials have not yet taken any
action to restrict the operations of the five Mennonite
house churches that Dien operated. End Summary.


2. (C) On December 20, PolOff traveled to Dong Nai province
to look into the cases of Doan Van Dien and Doan Huy
Chuong, father and son activists that were reported
arrested just prior to the APEC Leaders' Summit in
November. (Per reftel, pro-democracy websites affiliated
with the overseas Vietnamese community reported that Dien
and Chuong, along with other activists, were arrested for
attempting to form a "Farmers' and Workers' Union."


3. (C) In rural Phu Ngoc village some three hours from
HCMC, we met in private with Ho Thi Thuong, wife of Dien
and mother of Chuong. Her home also doubled as a local
Mennonite house church. Thuong confirmed that her husband
was detained in Dong Nai on November 14 based on an arrest
warrant issued by HCMC police. HCMC police also raided the
guesthouse in HCMC which her husband was renting and

confiscated a computer. She also noted that her husband
was "dropping leaflets" (NFI) in HCMC prior to his arrest.
Based on two documents recovered from the computer and
police surveillance, Thuong was informed by Dong Nai
authorities that her husband was charged with
"propagandizing against the government."


4. (C) Thuong was able to visit her husband twice in
detention in the Dong Nai. He complained of stomach pain
and appeared thin, but did not mention any harassment or
abuse, nor did he appear physically mistreated, his wife
told us. Prison officials asked Thuong to provide roughly
USD 30 to buy stomach medicine for her husband. In
December, Dien husband was transferred to the "B-34"
complex in HCMC -- the detention center for the Ministry of
Public Security's southern headquarters. She was able to
deliver more money for medicine to the facility but not
allowed to visit with her husband or son, who also was
incarcerated there.


5. (C) Thuong said she knew much less about the status of
her son. She was told by Dong Nai police and by
sympathizers in the dissident community that he was
arrested on November 16 in HCMC in the lodging quarters of
the textile factory for which he worked. She has not had
any contact with him and does not know exactly why he was
arrested, although she confirmed that he was "following the
work of my husband."

How They Became Activists
--------------


6. (C) Thuong explained that her husband had long advocated
for land rights in their rural community. Although self-
taught, he was able to assist the dispossessed and the
landless to file grievances against the government. In
parallel with his land rights activism, Dien was drawn to
and became a preacher for the Mennonite Church of the
controversial pastor Nguyen Hong Quang. Thuong indicated
that Quang introduced her husband to AMCIT political
activist Thanh Cong Do and his group, the People's
Democratic Party of Vietnam (PDP-VN). (Note: Do was
detained in Vietnam in August and expelled in September for
his political activities. At least six other Vietnamese
citizens-members of the PDP-VN remain in police custody.
End Note.)


7. (C) Thuong said that her husband decided to move to HCMC
and become a full time grassroots activist for the PDP-VN.
She said that, at her first meeting with her husband in
detention, he gave her a phone number in the United States
to call. She spoke with Do who promised to send her
financial support through a trusted intermediary. She

HO CHI MIN 00001485 002.3 OF 002


noted that Pastor Quang also would be involved in this
transfer of funds.

No Impact on the House Church Thus Far
--------------


8. (C) Despite her husband's arrest and confirmed
involvement in the PDP-VN, local authorities thus far have
not harassed the five house churches affiliated with her
husband. These house churches serve 104 members in the
local community, Thuong told us. She added that, following
Quang's release from prison in September 2005 (he was
amnestied after 16 months of a three-year sentence for an
altercation with undercover police officers in HCMC),she
had asked Quang for guidance on whether the house churches
should register under Vietnam's legal framework on
religion. She said that Quang instructed them not to
register.

Unsubstantiated Allegations of Mistreatment
--------------


9. (SBU) An overseas Vietnamese website affiliated with the
PDP-VN alleged that Dien is very ill in prison. It also
claimed that a "communication" it received noted that Dong
Nai police had used "violence to interrogate and intimidate
Chuong."

Comment
--------------


10. (C) It appears that Dien and Chuong were detained for
their non-violent political and social activism. This far,
we have seen no evidence or information to support the
allegations that Chuong has been physically harmed, though
we note that Pastor Quang has often made unfounded or
exaggerated accounts of abuse.


11. (C) The role of Pastor Quang as an intermediary or
facilitator in the dissident movement comes as no surprise.
What is not clear, however, is whether all his followers
know of and agree with his decision to co-mingle politics
and religion, a volatile combination in Vietnam. If he is
not transparent, and their are ample indications that he is
not, then he is putting his followers at risk as the
government will put anyone associated with Quang under
increased scrutiny. We have pressed provincial authorities
not to use the political views of individual pastors to
restrict the religious rights and activities of their
congregations or denominations. End comment.
WINNICK