In a pressing demand for justice, Human Rights Watch has urged the Vietnamese government to immediately release prominent human rights activist Trinh Ba Phuong and drop all charges against him. Trinh Ba Phuong, currently imprisoned, is set to face a hearing at the People’s Court of Da Nang on September 27, 2025. If convicted, he could face an additional sentence of up to 12 years in prison.
In April, authorities in Quang Nam province charged Trinh Ba Phuong with anti-state propaganda under Article 117 of the Vietnamese penal code. This is not the first time the activist has faced legal repercussions for his outspoken criticism of the government; he is already serving a 10-year sentence under the same article for voicing dissent against the Vietnamese authorities. The new charges stem from an incident in November 2024 when he created a sign in prison that the government deemed politically offensive.
“The new charges against Trinh Ba Phuong illustrate that dissent is not tolerated in Vietnam, whether expressed inside or outside prison walls,” said Patricia Gossman, the associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Vietnamese government must cease its retaliation against Trinh Ba Phuong for his peaceful protest.”
Article 117 broadly prohibits the creation, dissemination, or promotion of materials that oppose the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. However, it does not explicitly outlaw criticism of political parties, highlighting the overly broad nature of the law.
According to the indictment, on November 18, 2024, prison guards at An Diem prison conducted a search of Trinh Ba Phuong’s cell and discovered a piece of paper hidden under his sleeping area. The paper bore a handwritten message in capital letters that read: “Down with the Communist Party of Vietnam for violating human rights, down with the Communist court for sentencing me unjustly.”
The authorities forwarded this paper to the Bureau of Information and Communications of Quang Nam province for evaluation. The bureau concluded that the message “satirized, lambasted, maligned, and defamed the government,” asserting that it undermined the credibility of governmental institutions and instilled confusion and distrust among the populace regarding the leadership of the Party and the State.
At just 40 years old, Trinh Ba Phuong comes from a lineage of land rights activists. Throughout the early 21st century, he joined his family in numerous protests advocating for human rights, land rights, and environmental protection. He played a crucial role in amplifying the voices of farmers in Hanoi’s Dong Tam commune, where a brutal police raid in January 2020 resulted in the deaths of an 84-year-old farmer, Le Dinh Kinh, and three police officers. Trinh Ba Phuong was one of the authors of the “Dong Tam Report,” which shed light on this violent land clash.
His activism led to his arrest in June 2020, where he was charged with anti-state propaganda under Article 117. In December 2021, a Hanoi court convicted him and imposed a 10-year prison sentence. Despite the oppressive conditions, Trinh Ba Phuong has continued to advocate for human rights from behind bars, engaging in hunger strikes to protest inhumane prison conditions. Notably, in November 2024, he undertook a hunger strike lasting over 20 days to protest the confiscation of his books, paper, and pens by prison guards.
The harassment of Trinh Ba Phuong’s family has been relentless, with repeated police intimidation, house arrests, and physical assaults. His mother, Can Thi Theu, and younger brother, Trinh Ba Tu, are both serving eight-year sentences on similar charges of anti-state propaganda. His father, Trinh Ba Khiem, is a former political prisoner himself, having been sentenced to 14 months in prison in 2014 for advocating for land rights. Recently, local authorities obstructed both entrances to his father’s house, effectively confining him during the 80th anniversary of Vietnam’s National Day.
In September, Trinh Ba Tu, along with other political prisoners Bui Van Thuan and Dang Dinh Bach at Prison No. 6 in Nghe An province, reportedly initiated a hunger strike to demand the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners and detained activists in Vietnam. They also called for the Vietnamese government to uphold human rights comprehensively and to pave the way for democratization in the nation.
“The Vietnamese authorities’ claims at international forums to uphold human rights are starkly contradicted by their ongoing persecution of citizens who dare to criticize the Communist Party of Vietnam,” Gossman stated. “It is imperative that international donors and trade partners of Vietnam publicly pressure the government to release Trinh Ba Phuong and all others imprisoned for exercising their fundamental right to freedom of expression.”
