Novelist and journalist Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, age 47, (pen names Nguyen Thai
Hoang and Nguyen Thi Hien)was arrested on Saturday (April 21) according to
Reporters Without Borders. Authorities say police caught her in the act of
disseminating "subversive" documents online and confiscated a portable USB
drive containing articles she had written. She is accused of violating Article
88 of Vietnam's Criminal Code, prohibiting the dissemination of anti-government
propaganda. She is also accused in Vietnam's official media of belonging to the
dissident 8406 bloc, organizing an independent trade union and supporting a
dissident human rights commission. Thuy is a recipient of Human Rights Watch's
Hellman/Hammett award, granted to dissident writers for showing "courage in the
face of political persecution."

PEN reported on Nov. 22, 2006 that Thuy "was briefly detained on 2 September
2006 for her Internet writings, followed by three weeks of daily interrogation
sessions. She was again briefly detained on 11 October and interrogated about
the essays 'The Grotto', 'Self-Narration' and 'Dialogue' written after her
detention in September. She was also reportedly brought to an open 'People's
Court', in which members of the public are forced to participate in the abuse
and humiliation of those accused. She is now believed to have been placed under
effective house arrest and has been banned from publishing her writings
on-line."

Sources: Reporters Without Borders April 23; Associated Press April 23. See
also PEN, Nov. 22, 2006.

- Steve Denney
Vietnam Human Rights Journal
vietnamlist.blogspot.com