Re: [AP.news] Nguyen Thanh Giang freed after 66 days.

["U't Say" <utsay@yahoo.com>]

   Me^'n cha`o ca'c anh/chi. VNSA,

   To^i dda~ theo do~i tin na`y va` ra^'t la^'y la`m ba^'t ma~n ve^` ca'ch
xu+? su+. cu?a chi'nh quye^`n VN. To^i hoa`n toa`n pha?n ddo^'i nhu+~ng
ha`nh ddo^.ng ba('t ngu+o+`i vo^ co+' va` la.m quye^`n nhu+ the^' na`y!
Tha^.t la` mo^.t chuye^.n he^'t su+'c vo^ ly' va` vo^ nha^n dda.o\.

   Ca'c anh/chi. tre^n die^~n dda`n, co' kie^'n thu+'c va` su+. hie^?u
bie^'t ro^.ng nghi~ nhu+ the^' na`o ve^` vie^.c na`y\?

   Tha^n cha`o,
   UtSay

--- DiemQuynh Nguyen <diemquynhng@hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> HANOI (AP, 21/8/99) -- A prominent dissident who was detained for more
> than 
> two months this year says he went on two hunger strikes before he was 
> released without charge.
> Nguyen Thanh Giang, an internationally known geophysicist, also said in
> a 
> seven-page letter faxed Friday to the Associated Press that his children
> had 
> been punished for his activities by losing their jobs.
> Giang was arrested March 4 in Hanoi for allegedly possessing
> anti-communist 
> documents. He also had written articles on party corruption that were 
> circulated on the Internet and published in newspapers put together by 
> Vietnamese living in exile.
> 
> His arrest prompted international criticism. The U.S. State Department
> had 
> called for his immediate release before he was freed in mid-May. Vietnam
> 
> called Washington's criticism ``brazen interference'' in its internal 
> affairs.
> 
> The arrest followed a number of articles in the government-run
> Vietnamese 
> press warning about alleged threats from dissidents and ``hostile
> forces'' 
> seeking to force unacceptable change.
> 
> It also came just a few months after several dissidents were released
> from 
> prison as part of mass amnesties, sparking hopes that Vietnam might be 
> loosening its policies.
> 
> While freedom of speech and religion supposedly are guaranteed, the 
> government imposes tight restrictions on religious groups, and national 
> security laws are vague enough to cover a number of perceived offenses.
> 
> Human rights groups claim Vietnam holds at least 40 political and
> religious 
> dissidents. The government claims it has none -- only people who have
> broken 
> the law.
> 
> Giang said in the fax that police searched his bookshelves and
> confiscated 
> his two computers, a box of books and newspapers, and a photocopier
> before 
> he was taken to a detention camp.
> 
> ``I was so indignant that I went on a hunger strike'' that lasted six
> days during which he lost 11 pounds, Giang said.
> 
> After asking for paper to write a confession, Giang said, he instead
> wrote letters to government leaders that led to another six-day hunger 
> strike when there was no response.
> 
> Faced with daily interrogation, Giang said he read the criminal code at 
> night and told police he had done nothing wrong.
> 
> ``I demanded them to free me or bring me to court,'' he said, and he was
> 
> finally freed after 66 days.
> 
> His family was also subjected to hardship, Giang said.
> 
> ``After my arrest, my son was forced to resign from the Petroleum
> Institute while my daughter, who had worked as a secretary to the labor 
> minister, had to shift to work for a British NGO (non-governmental 
> organization),'' he said.
> 
> Meanwhile, he said he has been the subject of malicious rumors that he 
> worked for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency for $3,000 per month.
> 
> After Giang's release, Foreign Ministry official Phan Thuy Thanh said in
> a 
> statement that Giang ``violated the laws of Vietnam.''
> 
> 
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