Right at this moment, when it’s late night in California and afternoon in Vietnam, a Vietnamese-American mathematician is being tried by a “People’s Court” in Hochiminh City.
Quan Quoc Nguyen, Ph.D. (pictured)
, from Sacramento, is accused of “terrorism,” and his alleged terrorist acts consist of handing pro-democracy flyers to his friends. He has been held since November 2007.
Also standing trial with Nguyen are a Thai citizen and a Vietnamese citizen. The three are affiliated with Viet Tan, a political party based in the United States opposed to communist rule. Viet Tan (itself not free from controversy among anti-communists) has created a web site called FreeThemNow.net to demand the release of these and other political prisoners.
Many California politicians have joined the call for their release, including both Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer (here). Quan Nguyen’s own U.S. Rep. Dan Lundgren joined with Reps. Zoe Lofgren and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fl) in a congressional resolution calling for Vietnam to let him go. In the state legislature, his assemblyman Dave Jones joined with Van Thai Tran and 53 other assembly members in a letter to Vietnam’s president seeking his release. State Senator Lou Correa wrote Quan Nguyen a letter of encouragement.
Quan’s wife, in an interview with the Bolsavik from December 2007, stands steadfastly behind him. “I’m not in Viet Tan,” she said, “but I support what Quan is doing.”
With the U.S. leading the Global War On Terrorism, charges of “terrorist” have become the favorite label for the government of Vietnam to slap on political dissidents. As the Wall Street Journal’s Asia edition noted here, “In Vietnam, arguing that people deserve an alternative to the Communist Party is considered terrorism.”
The most ridiculous of these terrorism charges was leveled in 2006 at another U.S. citizen, San Jose resident Cong Thanh Do. For good measure, Vietnam alleged that Do had a plan to attack the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi. Read here.
Next thing you know, the purported victim the United States demanded Do’s release, and eight months later Do was invited to the White House to meet with President Bush on human rights policy.
