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Press Release
Congressional Dialogue on Vietnam
June 21, 2000
For information contact:
Sarah Anderson (714) 621-0102
Congressional
Panel Urges Release of Vietnamese Dissident Ha Si Phu
Washington, DC -- Today, the Congressional Dialogue on Vietnam sent a letter
signed by 32 Members of Congress to the Prime Minister of Vietnam calling for
the immediate release of Vietnamese dissident Ha Si Phu. On May 12, 2000, police
placed Mr. Ha under house arrest and threatened to charge him with treason under
Vietnam's criminal code without proof or evidence.
The Congressional Dialogue on Vietnam (CDV), founded by U.S. Representatives
Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Tom Davis (R-VA) initiated the
letter to Prime Minister Phan Van Khai after hearing reports of the police
searching Ha Si Phu's house and confiscating his work, including his
personal computer.
The letter reads "We join the international community in calling on the
Vietnamese Government to end its persecution of Ha Si Phu and the harassment of
his family. We are particularly concerned that many peaceful voices in Vietnam,
including writers and religious leaders, are victims of the administrative
detainment policy (Directive 31/CP) which permits their house arrest without any
kind of due process. As you know, freedom of speech is guaranteed by the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights of which the State of Vietnam is a signatory."
"Ha Si Phu's situation is only one example of the overall condition of
Vietnam's intolerance of freedom of expression. The intolerance for
freedom of expression is enabled by the policy on administrative detainment
(Directive 31/CP) which permits arbitrary arrests and detainment," said
Representative Loretta Sanchez. "In essence, authorities have lowered
the standard-or more correctly removed the arbitrary standard altogether-for
which dissidents can be punished. The real purpose of the administrative
detainment policy is to do away with the need for formal charges or embarrassing
trials which might draw international attention."
Ha Si Phu has become well known at home and abroad in recent years for his
political discourses and focusing international attention on Vietnam's
repression against freedom of expression. Ha Si Phu has expressed his
views peacefully, namely through three essays: "Walking Hand in Hand in the
Direction of Our Own Intellect" 1988), "Reflections of a Citizen"
(1993), and "Farewell to Ideology" (1995). For his efforts, Ha
Si Phu was imprisoned in December 1995 for a year and has been placed under
continual house arrest since being released.
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