The Digital Freedom Network is joining the growing number of international organizations working to free Doan Viet Hoat.

The Digital Freedom Network (DFN) has published some of the Vietnamese professor's writing on its Web site (www.dfn.org). DFN has also sent out a e-mail action alert to raise international awareness of Doan's work and suffering. This action includes a letter from prison written by Doan, as well as a model letter that people can use to write protest letters to international leaders on Doan's behalf. We have already sent letters to several international officials: Le Kha Phieu, U.S. President Clinton, U.N. Secretary General Annan, U.N. High Commissioner Robinson, the American Ambassador to Vietnam, and the Vietnamese Ambassador to the U.S.

DFN has a page dedicated to Doan Viet Hoat at http://www.dfn.org/asia/doan/doan.html. DFN encourages people to visit its Web site, learn more about Doan and other dissidents, and use DFN's Action Alerts to help improve human rights around the world. DFN will also send Action Alerts to interested parties. (For a complete list of DFN Action Alerts, see http://www.dfn.org/news/news.html)

The Digital Freedom Network is an international human rights organization that publishes censored material on the Internet. DFN's Web site (www.dfn.org) contains restricted material from 18 countries in four continents. DFN publicizes material written by people who have suffered serious human rights violations, such as physical torture or unfair imprisonment. DFN works with other free speech and human rights organizations, such as the Committee to Protect Journalists and Index on Censorship, to obtain material for its Web site.

About Professor Doan Viet Hoat

Several years ago, a Vietnamese professor urged the Vietnamese government to share power peacefully. He was arrested and sentenced to a long prison term as a result.

Born in south Vietnam, Doan Viet Hoat received a doctorate in education from the United States. He returned to Vietnam and became vice president of Van Hanh University in Saigon. In 1976, Doan was accused of being a "lackey of American imperialism" and spent 12 years in a reeducation camp. He was never brought to trial. In 1990, Doan was arrested again, a few weeks after founding a clandestine publication called Dien Dan Tu Do ("Freedom Forum"). He was charged under article 73 of the Penal Code with "founding a reactionary organization." Doan was sentenced to 20 years in prison, later commuted to 15 years.

Doan now sits in solitary confinement in Thanh Cam Prison, where he has been imprisoned since 1993. This prison is normally reserved for serious criminal offenders. His family has not seen him since January 1996.

The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) awarded Doan the 1998 Golden Pen of Freedom for his "extraordinary courage" in the fight for press freedom in Vietnam.

A letter from prison written by Doan in 1993 appears at the end of this message. Other pieces written by him and related to him are located on DFN's Web site at http://www.dfn.org/asia/doan/doan.html

If you have any questions, please contact:

Bobson Wong
Executive Director
Digital Freedom Network
190 Main St. , Hackensack, NJ 07601 U.S.A.
Tel: +1 (201) 928-4378 - Fax: +1 (201) 907-5165
Web: www.dfn.org
Email: bwong@dfn.org