UPDATE ON POLITICAL PRISONERS NGUYEN VAN DAI AND LE THI

UNCLAS HANOI 000070 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS, DRL/AWH, AND DRL/IRF E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV ASEC KIRF VM SUBJECT: UPDATE ON POLITICAL PRISONERS NGUYEN VAN DAI AND LE THI CONG NHAN REF: 07 HANOI 1993 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Imprisoned human rights lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan have been moved from a temporary detention facility in Hanoi to separate prison locations away from the city. According to family members, Ms. Nhan is suffering harsh conditions and has had her Bible confiscated after the move. Post has expressed deep concern and requested confirmation of Le Thi Cong Nhan's location, health and prison conditions via a diplomatic note to the Foreign Ministry. We have also requested that her Bible be returned to her, if confiscated, noting that Public Security officials repeatedly assured us she would be allowed to read a Bible in prison. We will continue to call for both Dai and Nhan's immediate release from prison. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) A six-hour Supreme People's Court appeal trial on November 27, 2007 (reftel) led to one-year sentence reductions for both Dai and Nhan, with Dai now sentenced to four years in prison and Nhan for three years. Including time served, both will become technically eligible for government amnesty at different times in ¶2008. The sentencing ended the trial period of detention and marked a change of status of the two. This is the reason they departed the detention facility (run by public security officials) and entered the separate prison system (run by judicial authorities). ¶3. (SBU) Family members report that, in the first week of January, authorities moved Dai to the Ba Sao (aka Nam Ha) Prison in Ha Nam Province (three hours south of Hanoi). Jailed Catholic priest and democracy activist Nguyen Van Ly is also reportedly being held at the same prison, known to house "national security cases." Nhan has been moved to Thanh Hoa Province, Prison No. 5 (roughly four hours from Hanoi). While the transfer from the Hanoi temporary detention facility to a regular prison was expected, the move provides significant hardship on family members to visit these locations. ¶4. (SBU) Mrs. Tran Thi Le, the mother of Le Thi Cong Nhan, has initiated a campaign to publicize her concerns about her daughter's well being, which includes letters to Ambassador Michalak and Deputy Secretary Negroponte. Other US-based organizations are echoing SIPDIS these concerns. The family and groups claim that Nhan went on a hunger strike on December 27 to protest her incarceration and poor prison conditions. According to these reports, during her transfer from Hanoi to Thanh Hoa Prison No. 5 at four a.m. on January 3, Nhan fell unconscious, later regaining consciousness. We have since been told that after her mother visited her in the new prison on January 7, Nhan stopped her hunger strike. ¶5. (SBU) According to her family, the Bible given to Nhan, a Christian, by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) during their October 2007 prison visit to Dai and Nhan, has been confiscated by the new prison authorities. Further, Nhan's mother said prison conditions for her daughter are poor; she shares a cell with 60 prisoners, sleeping on the ground with no bed or mattress, and no hot water for bathing. ¶6. (SBU) The Embassy's diplomatic note requests the GVN to provide information on Ms. Nhan's location, health status and access to her Bible and notes our deep concern over her case. ¶7. (SBU) Comment: We will follow up our diplomatic note with a request to visit both prisoners in their new locations, while continuing to call for their release. MICHALAK