ICC NOTE: Christian human rights activist Nguyen Van Dai was arrested in Vietnam back in December of 2015 for attempting to meet with the E.U. delegation while they were in country. Since his arrest, he has been held incommunicado with no contact from friends or family. His wife left Vietnam to visit the United States to advocate for her husbands release. Through the entire ordeal she has relied heavily on God and her faith to get her through these difficult times. Nguyen Van Dai is one of many human rights activists and church leaders languishing in Vietnamese prisons merely for their faith and for their desires to have a free and democratic Vietnam.Â
4/18/2016 Los Angeles, California (LA Times) – Her food’s waiting — sizzling onion steak and fragrant catfish — but the woman on a mission does not pause between back-to-back interviews.
She’s done nine since leaving Vietnam and landing in Los Angeles last week, rushing to Orange County’s Little Saigon, fiercely staying on message, softly sharing a plea for her husband’s freedom.
Vu Minh Khanh, wife of famed human rights activist Nguyen Van Dai — beaten and imprisoned by the communist government in Hanoi — is determined that the American public and others “outside our community … know his work, his cause.”
“Now that I’m here in this country, I realize even more how much people suffer in my country,” Vu said. “How else can you describe it when you don’t have basic rights?”
Nguyen, a lawyer and blogger, left his Hanoi home in December to meet with European Union representatives in the country to research human rights issues.
Now that I’m here in this country, I realize even more how much people suffer in my country.
— Vu Minh Khanh, wife of human rights activist Nguyen Van Dai
Plainclothes officers stopped him and took him back to the house, where a police camera facing the front door monitors all who enter and exit. They confiscated three computers and USB sticks, Vu said. Nguyen was later charged with “conducting propaganda against the state.”
Four months later, authorities have not allowed Vu, other family members or friends to see or contact him, his wife said, adding that they also declined his requests for a lawyer.
International human rights groups, along with elected officials worldwide, have condemned his arrest, attacking Vietnam for its “poor” record of religious persecution, lack of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.
