In the midst of Hanoi’s campaign to retain its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, three prominent Vietnamese activists, critics of the communist regime, have been arrested in recent days, Human Rights Watch denounced on Wednesday March 6 ( HRW). “These three activists are guilty of nothing except exercising their basic rights of freedom of expression”declared Phil Robertson, deputy director of the NGO for Asia, quoted in the press release.
The arrest of Nguyen Chi Tuyen, an opponent active on social networks, and Nguyen Vu Binh, a former journalist who spent years in prison, took place Thursday February 29 in the capital, Hanoi, according to HRW. Hoang Viet Khanh was arrested the next day in Lam Dong province in the south of the country.
All three are accused of having carried out a propaganda operation against the state, according to Human Rights Watch. Vietnamese authorities have not confirmed any of these arrests.
Critics of the single party face increasingly severe repression, and risk prison at the end of a biased legal process, according to HRW, which has documented cases of police torture to extract confessions.
Public support for political prisoners
Nguyen Chi Tuyen, 49, helped create a citizen group denouncing China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, a subject of tension between Beijing and Hanoi. One of his YouTube channels has 1,600 videos and 98,000 subscribers.
Nguyen Vu Binh, 55, worked for almost ten years in the official newspaper of the Vietnamese Communist Party, before wanting to launch an independent political movement. He was sentenced to seven years in prison for espionage in 2003. Finally, Hoang Viet Khanh, 41, is a citizen journalist who has publicly supported political prisoners. Vietnamese state media reported his arrest.
There are currently 175 activists imprisoned in Vietnam, according to a local human rights group, The 88 Project. This group revealed last week a secret directive from the authorities equating international trade and cooperation as a threat to national security.
These revelations were made several days after the Vietnamese foreign minister defended in Geneva the re-election of Vietnam as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council for the period 2026-2028.