VZCZCXRO2902
PP RUEHHM
DE RUEHHI #2038/01 3380911
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 040911Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6822
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 4014
RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 002038 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, DRL/IRF AND DRL/AWH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KIRF PHUM PREL PGOV ASEC VM
 
SUBJECT:  USCIRF VISITS HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYERS NGUYEN VAN DAI AND LE 
THI CONG NHAN IN PRISON 
 
REF: HANOI 1852 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) On October 22, 2007 a visiting United States Commission on 
International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) delegation met with the 
wife of imprisoned political dissident Nguyen Van Dai, Vu Minh Khanh 
and the mother of imprisoned political dissident Le Thi Cong Nhan, 
Tran Thi Le, at a Hanoi restaurant.  Police officials had earlier 
objected to the meeting in discussions with the Embassy, but did not 
interfere in any way.  The family members complained of ongoing 
police harassment and obstacles in visiting Dai and Nhan in prison 
and in transmitting medication to their family members.  On October 
23, the USCIRF delegation requested GVN Ministry of Public Security 
permission to meet with the prisoners (Reftel).  MPS agreed to 
facilitate a visit to the jailed human rights lawyers in a detention 
facility outside Hanoi.  That afternoon, the Vietnamese police 
escorted the visiting USCIRF Delegation, accompanied by Embassy 
staff, to the Hanoi Temporary Detention Center to meet with the two 
prisoners.  Dai and Nhan appeared in good health and reported no 
physical mistreatment, despite poor food and water.  Their cells, 
which the delegation visited, were clean but crowded.  Neither Dai 
nor Nhan regretted their activities in support of human rights in 
Vietnam and both expressed appreciation for support from the USG. 
At that time, both awaited pending appeal trials.  End Summary. 
 
 
MEETING WITH FAMILY MEMBERS 
--------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) During a visit to Vietnam to examine religious freedom 
issues, a visiting United States Commission on International 
Religious Freedom (USCIRF) delegation asked to meet with relatives 
of imprisoned dissidents.  Ministry of Public Security officials 
expressed their hope that the group would not meet with "sensitive 
figures," but did not obstruct Embassy arrangements for a lunch 
meeting with Mrs. Vu Minh Khanh (the wife of Nguyen Van Dai) and 
Mrs. Tran Thi Le (the mother of Le Thi Cong Nhan).  Dai and Nhan 
were arrested and tried (in the first instance) for organizing 
efforts to build support for political change in Vietnam. 
 
¶3. (SBU) During the lunch, the USCIRF delegation asked Khanh and Le 
about conditions in prison for Dai and Nhan, the status of their 
appeal trials at that time, harassment of family members and whether 
they considered Dai and Nhan to have been arrested for religious 
activities.  Khanh told the delegation that her husband had 
initially fought for religious freedom in Vietnam but then connected 
this fight to the overall human rights situation in Vietnam, which 
"as a Protestant, he could no longer ignore."  Dai's initial work on 
religious freedom involved looking at the registration process and 
conditions for Protestant congregations in the Central Highlands, 
before he transitioned to human rights and democracy promotion. 
Khanh complained of hassles by prison officials in visiting her 
husband and their refusal to transmit medicine and a Bible to him; 
she had only recently been allowed to transmit liver-related 
medication for Dai.  Mrs. Le agreed about the harassment both women 
faced and mentioned her daughter's untreated eye problems.  Le told 
USCIRF her daughter was not significantly involved in religious 
issues, to the best of her knowledge. 
 
¶4. (SBU) USCIRF Commissioner Gaer asked about the role of the 
Internet, and both women agreed that the Internet had played a major 
role in their family members' human rights-related activities before 
their arrest.  It had also been a significant factor in the 
government's prosecution of Dai and Nhan at their joint trial on May 
11, 2007 as the prosecution discussed specific documents they had 
either downloaded or authored and distributed on the Internet.  Both 
family members said there had been ongoing police harassment, 
surveillance and ostracism from former friends.  Khanh said one of 
their professional friends was fired from his job because of his 
association with Dai.  Le reported similar experiences. 
 
 
VISIT WITH PRISONER NGUYEN VAN DAI 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) On the morning of October 23, during USCIRF's meeting with 
MPS (Reftel), the USCIRF team asked for permission to visit Dai and 
Nhan in prison.  The MPS agreed, and facilitated a visit that 
afternoon by a morning meeting with the Vice-Minister of Public 
Security (Reftel).  The USCIRF delegation and Emboffs visited the 
Hanoi Temporary Detention Center in Cau Dien commune outside Hanoi. 
There, the delegation held separate thirty minute private meetings 
with Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan and visited their prison 
cells.  Police officials acceded to USCIRF's request that no police 
official be in the room during these meetings. 
 
HANOI 00002038  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) Dai, who arrived first, was calm and appeared healthy in 
his meeting with the delegation.  He said he was "touched" by the 
delegation's visit and his overall treatment in prison was 
"generally good," as the prison officials "know he is a special 
case."  His main complaint was being denied access to a Bible to 
read, noting his wife had not been allowed to give him one.  During 
his pre-trial case investigation, he was not allowed to see anybody 
for three months.  Since his May 2007 trial and conviction, he has 
been able to visit monthly with his wife for 30 to 40 minutes, 
talking on headphones through a glass window.  He told the USCIRF 
delegation he did not believe there would be negative repercussions 
for him from the delegation's visit. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Dai said he was confined to a cell of approximately 50 
square meters with 30 inmates.  He said he was not scared of his 
fellow inmates, as "most supported him," and most were only 
first-time criminals.   Inmates share a common bathroom, and food 
consists of only rice and vegetables and a monthly allowance of fish 
sauce.  He said inmates were given some bottled drinking water but 
it was not sufficient so inmates often resorted to using their socks 
or shorts to filter the water pumped into a tank in the cell. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Dai said he believed he was arrested because of training 
courses he and Nhan gave on human rights in his law office.  He said 
that authorities raided his office and home and found pro-democracy 
articles that he had either written or posted on the Internet or 
that he had downloaded from various websites; these also included 
documents on Internet freedom and human rights.  He said some 
documents he authored also involved religious life in the Central 
Highlands, but his religion-related activities were not brought up 
at his May 11 one-day trial.  He believed his arrest was in part due 
to anti-government demonstrations in the United States in response 
to the February 2007 arrest of Father Nguyen Van Ly and his (Dai's) 
connection to entities in the United States. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Dai said three formal charges were brought against him:  1) 
creating anti-government propaganda; 2) storing anti-government 
propaganda; and 3) promulgating anti-government propaganda.  Some of 
the documents he authored, he said, included a document entitled 
"The Right to Form Political Parties" and "Developing a Multi-Party 
System Based on the Vietnamese Constitution."  He noted that Vietnam 
had had a multi-party political system before in its history, and he 
had written about this.  Dai said he believed another factor in his 
arrest was his organization of seminars on press freedom and conduct 
of interviews with BBC and VOA.  He has been allowed to see a lawyer 
upon request since his conviction, and at that time, he was waiting 
for his appeal trial date to be set.  Under law, he must be notified 
at least 15 days before the appeal to allow him time to prepare his 
case, he added. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Dai told the USCIRF delegation he had fought for religious 
freedom for the Vietnamese people and believed religion was a factor 
in his case, but believed he was arrested mainly due to his human 
rights and democracy-related work.  He said the authorities never 
liked the fact that he had tried to convert colleagues to 
Protestantism and did not want him to have a Bible in prison because 
they feared he would convert other inmates.  He said he had never 
been pressured to renounce his faith. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Dai asked the delegation to tell his wife that he was 
well.  He said he knew there was international attention regarding 
his case, and he asked the delegation to thank the many 
international human rights organizations and members of the United 
States Congress, specifically noting Congressman Chris Smith's 
efforts.  The USCIRF delegation passed Dai a Vietnamese-language 
Bible on behalf of his family and took photos with him. 
 
 
VISIT WITH PRISONER LE THI CONG NHAN 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶11. (SBU) Ms. Le Thi Cong Nhan, the 28-year old human rights lawyer 
and former spokesperson of the Hanoi Bar Association, told the 
USCIRF Delegation that she was very surprised by its visit.  Nhan 
told USCIRF that she is treated as other prisoners are, except that 
she is exempt from certain chores as she has sinusitis and 
bronchitis.  She said she lived in a 50 square meter cell with 30 
other inmates.  She said the food was cold, as was the shower water. 
 When asked about abuse, she stated that some prison guards had 
initially taunted her as a "counter-revolutionary," but that this 
ceased after she complained to higher-level officials.  She gets 
along with her fellow inmates, although they are of a "low education 
level" and "rough."  Some of them sometimes curse her as a 
"traitor," but she has not been a victim of physical violence. 
Since her conviction, she has been able to meet with a lawyer. 
 
 
HANOI 00002038  003 OF 003 
 
 
¶12. (SBU) Nhan said that, prior to the meeting with USCIRF,  prison 
authorities told her to wear her best dress and to speak well of the 
prison.  She noted that she insisted on wearing her regular prison 
uniform of a T-shirt and pants.  She has been able to see her mother 
once a month in the same room as visits for death sentence inmates. 
She said her mother had to write multiple letters every month in 
order to secure permission for her monthly visit, and stated that 
this was just a way for the authorities to harass her family. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Nhan said her political activities were peaceful and just, 
and she believes that he sacrifices were worthwhile for the 
country's future.  She stated that she knew her activism would land 
her in prison some day, and that she is proud of herself and her 
efforts.  When asked what she would have the group tell the Prime 
Minister of Vietnam (whom they would be meeting with later that 
day), Nhan suggested that they ask whether the Prime Minister 
actually considers her a dangerous traitor, and if he would like to 
see his children in prison.  The USCIRF delegation passed Nhan a 
Vietnamese-language Bible on behalf of her family and took photos 
with her, before departing. 
 
MICHALAK