ICC Note:

A Catholic journalist and activist who is serving 8 years in prison for attempting to “overthrow” the state has been subjected to ill-treatment. Her father reports that she has been slapped and insulted by the guards and that she has been forced to spend 10 days in isolation in a dark and smelly cell. She has also reportedly lost weight. She was arrested along with 14 Protestants in a crackdown by the government on religion. Vietnam claims to protect religious freedom but in reality suppresses and attempts to control religious activity.

3/17/2017 Vietnam (Asia News) – Convicted on “subversion” charges for reporting corruption within the Communist Party, Catholic journalist and activist Nguyễn Đặng Minh Mân was the victim of “repeated acts of ill-treatment” in her prison cell, this according to her family.

“Sometimes the prison guards slapped her face,” Minh Mân’s father Nguyễn Văn Lợi said. “At present, my daughter has to spend ten days of isolation in a small room, a very dark and smelly cell,” he added. Some prisoners have also been used to “insult her in front of others.”

Nguyễn Đặng Minh Mân (pictured, centre) is an freelance journalist. In 2011 she wrote about Vietnamese patriots and nationalists protesting against China’s “imperialist” policy in the South China Sea. She was arrested for this reason on 31 July of that year, together with other 14 young Protestants.

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