Pham Doan Trang
Sentenced: 9 years
Pham Doan Trang, born 1978, was sentenced to nine years in prison for conducting propaganda against the state.
Pham Doan Trang is an outspoken blogger on topics including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, women’s rights, environmental issues, the territorial conflict between Vietnam and China, police brutality, suppression of activists, and aspects of law and human rights. She promotes election reform and human rights education. Her articles and blogs often focus on the role of media in social and political life. She frequently urges people to use social media in a responsible way that promotes a non-violent, thriving civil society movement.
Pham Doan Trang has consistently advocated for an impartial, rights-respecting justice system. She has been an editor of the online Law Magazine, which has published many articles and translations concerning lawyers and human rights, the struggle against forced confessions, state use of corporal punishment, domestic violence, legal reforms in China, high-profile death sentence cases in Vietnam, protections against self-incrimination, and many other topics.
Pham Doan Trang has written about international issues such as the democracy movement in Hong Kong, for which she provided a timeline of events and key issues for Vietnamese readers who cannot read other languages, and the human rights crisis in Crimea. In both instances, she also translated English language articles about these subjects into Vietnamese, which others distributed in Vietnam.
Pham Doan Trang’s work seeks to bring international attention to Vietnam’s abysmal human rights record. Her blog includes English translations of her writings in Vietnamese, including calls for the release of political prisoners. She is also the co-editor for the English website Vietnam Right Now, which aims to distribute “objective, accurate, and timely information on the current social and political conditions in Vietnam today.”
In February 2019, Pham Doan Trang co-founded the Liberal Publishing House, which publishes a range of non-fiction books written by Vietnamese authors on topics such as political science, public policy, and other social issues, such as Politics of a Police State, Non-Violent Resistance, Politics for the Common People, Life Behind Iron Bars, and A Handbook for Families of Prisoners. The government considers these books sensitive and has effectively banned their publication.
Pham Doan Trang has long been involved in peaceful protests against government policies. She has joined demonstrations outside police stations and at airports when fellow activists have been detained, participated in anti-China protests, and helped lead pro-environmental marches. She exhibited solidarity for fellow activists by trying to attend government show trials, and, at great personal risk, she periodically visited families of imprisoned dissidents to provide them with support and assistance.
Government security forces frequently persecuted, harassed, and physically assaulted her. She walks with a pronounced limp from an injury when security forces forcibly broke up an environmental protest in Hanoi in April 2015.
In May 2016, police detained and prevented her from attending a meeting with US President Barrack Obama, who had invited her to join a gathering of activists during his visit to Hanoi. In November 2017, she was detained after meeting with a European Union delegation that was preparing for the annual bilateral human rights dialogue between the EU and Vietnam.
Police arrested Pham Doan Trang on October 6, 2020 in Ho Chi Minh City. She was charged for “conducting propaganda against the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code.
In December 2021, a court in Hanoi convicted and sentenced her to nine years in prison.