As from May 13, 2015, blogger Tạ Phong Tần has gone on hunger strike to protest against the ill-treatment of political prisoners by the wardens of Prison No. 5, Yen Dinh district, Thanh Hoa, which is under the Ministry of Public Security.
Three weeks later, in a family visit on June 3, 2015, Tạ Phong Tần confirmed this to her family and was determined that she would continue the hunger strike.
According to her younger sister Tạ Minh Tú, Tạ Phong Tần is now “very weak.”
At the time this statement is released, still the family has not received any information concerning Tạ Phong Tần’s health condition.
This is Tạ Phong Tần’s third hunger strike in protest at prison guards’ harsh and abusive treatment and discrimination against political prisoners.
It is necessary to be reminded that a Falun Gong practitioner in Vietnam, Mr. Vũ Hồng Tố, was let die last December after his hunger strike to oppose the 5-year sentence of imprisonment imposed on him.
We, the people who love democracy and freedom, must not let the same thing happen to blogger Tạ Phong Tần and all other Vietnamese prisoners.
The Network of Vietnamese Bloggers asserts that:
- The harsh jail condition and other discriminatory treatment against prisoners of conscience in Vietnam constitute a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
- The abandonment and solitary confinement of those who oppose the prison’s ill-treatment policy have seriously violated the International Convention of Human Rights.
The Network of Vietnamese Bloggers hereby requests that:
1. We consider the hunger strike of prisoner of conscience Tạ Phong Tần as a resistant act that should be promoted and supported everywhere.
2. We will speak out against and call for publicizing prison condition and treatment meted out to prisoners of conscience.
3. We will call on the international community to care about the condition of Tạ Phong Tần and other prisoners of conscience.
Let us speak out and act urgently to protect blogger Tạ Phong Tần – the indomitable woman of the movement fighting for democracy in Vietnam.
09/06/2015
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Vietnamese version:
