Reporters Without Borders, July 30, 2012
Dang Thi Kim Lieng, the mother of the jailed blogger Ta Phong Tan, died after setting fire to herself today outside the headquarters of the People’s Committee in Bac Lieu, Tan’s home province, in an act of despair about her dissident daughter’s trial next week in Ho Chi Minh City for criticizing corruption and injustice in her blog.
“She was very worried about her daughter,” the Catholic activist Le Quoc Quan told Agence France-Presse. “She was very worried about her daughter’s trial, she was worried she would never see her daughter again.”
Reporters Without Borders is deeply saddened and outraged by this tragedy, which could have been avoided if the authorities had not been so stubborn.
“The government has cracked down even harder on dissidents in recent months, with smear campaigns and harassment now taking its toll on families,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Lieng’s death is tragedy that affects all Vietnam’s dissidents. Of late, we have registered new cases of bloggers being watched, arrested or physically attacked. There is an urgent need for the international community to firmly remind Vietnam of the obligation to respect human rights and free speech.”
Reporters Without Borders urges the authorities to inform Tan without delay of her mother’s death and to allow her to attend the funeral. The jailed blogger Paulus Le Son was not allowed to attend his mother’s funeral a few months ago.
Read more: http://en.rsf.org/vietnam-harsher-crackdown-on-dissidents-30-07-2012,43132.html
