Two Vietnamese Activists Barred from Foreign Trips by Hanoi Police

    Security agents confiscated their passports and detained Hung and Thuy to a local police station near the airport despite strong protest from the duo.

    By Vu Quoc Ngu | May 07, 2015 (Defend the Defenders)

    Two Vietnamese activists Le Anh Hung (facebook account Le Anh Hung) and Nguyen Thi Thuy (facebook account Maria Thuy Nguyen) have been suspended from travelling abroad by local security forces, according to social media.

    Mr. Hung said in his facebook page that the duo was stopped by Vietnam’s security forces in the Hanoi-based Noi Bai International Airport when they were going to take an international flight to Bangkok.

    Security agents confiscated their passports and detained Hung and Thuy to a local police station near the airport despite strong protest from the duo.

    At the police station, Hung refused to work with police officers but demanded them to return his passport.

    After several hours, police released Hung and Thuy without giving back their passports.

    Hung is an activist, member of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam. He was arrested and imprisoned for his online articles and denunciations accusing senior communist party members of committing corruption and other serious crimes.

    His wife, Le Thi Phuong Anh, is imprisoned for activities advocating human rights and democracy and protesting China’s violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea.

    Meanwhile, Ms. Thuy is a land rights activist whose land was illegally seized by authorities of her home city of Haiphong.

    Other sources informed that the security forces in Ho Chi Minh City also stopped two local activists Le Ba Huy Hao and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Nhung, the mother of prominent young activist Phuong Uyen from taking a flight to Thailand on the same day.

    Vietnam’s police have confiscated passports of numerous local political dissidents and social activists, barring them from attending international workshops and meetings with foreign politicians.

    Dr. Pham Chi Dung, chairman of the unsanctioned Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam and Miss Le Thu Ha from the unregistered Brotherhood of Democracy are among victims. Last year, Dr. Dung was not allowed to travel to Switzerland to attend the hearing of Vietnam’s Universal Periodical Review while Miss Ha was stopped on her way to participate in a training course of the Stockholm-based Civil Rights Defenders last month.

    SOURCE www.vietnamhumanrightsdefenders.net