PRESS RELEASE
March 9, 1999
As reported by his relatives, the renowned dissident Nguyen Thanh Giang was arrested by the Vietnamese Public Securities cadres in the afternoon of March 04, 1999 in the streets of Hanoi. Moment after the arrest, other cadres broke into his house in Trung Hoa ward, Cau Giay district, Hanoi, searched and confiscated a number of equipment and documents. His family's phone line has been disconnected. As of today, his family have no knowledge of his whereabouts or health condition.
The public knew of Nguyen Thanh Giang through his many discourses: Human Rights, the Thousand Year Aspiration (12/96), Election and the National Assembly (6/97), Let's Discuss the Vietnamese Workers Class (9/98), etc. His writings focused on the major issues facing Vietnam today and the urgent need to democratize the political system.
In response to Nguyen Thanh Giang's unreserved analyses of the nation condition under the Vietnamese Communist Party and its government, the leaders in Hanoi have ordered threats, harassment, and even arrests of this scientist and his family. In March 1998, Public Securities cadres arrested him during his trip in southern Vietnam to help children of families with war-dead and invalid. The reason for that arrest was his alleged "distribution of reactionary documents". Nguyen Thanh Giang held a hunger strike in protest and was released a few days later.
Despite the constant threat on his personal safety, Nguyen Thanh Giang has continued to bravely speak his views on the nation problems. His latest writing known to the outside world was his thought on the problem of State's human rights violations in Vietnam while the world was commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December 1998.
The arrest of Nguyen Thanh Giang and the attacks on various Vietnamese dissidents in recent months signal a new wave of oppression by the Vietnamese authorities.
The Free Vietnam Alliance strongly condemns the arrest of Nguyen Thanh Giang and demands Hanoi release the dissident immediately and unconditionally.
We urgently call the world attention to the Hanoi's attempt to eliminate democracy advocates in Vietnam.
We call on all human rights organizations, the media, and governments around the world to exert your pressure on Hanoi in demanding the release of Nguyen Thanh Giang and an end to all violations of human fundamental rights in Vietnam.
Free Vietnam Alliance