Dr. Nguyen Dan Que, who is one of Vietnam's most       

  renown democracy activists, was arrested on March 17,    

  2003, four days after he sent a statement to his brother, 

  Dr. Quan Nguyen from an internet cafe. 

  The statement criticized the Vietnamese government's   

  claim to guarantee freedom of information, pointing out

  there are no independent media in the country.  It also endorsed proposed U.S. legislation that would fund ways to overcome broadcast and Internet jamming by Vietnam.

Police, quoted in the official party newspaper Nhan Dan, said Dr. Que, a resident of Ho Chi Minh City, was caught sending documents with content that "runs against the State" to the "High Tide Humanist Movement" organization.  Authorities have threatened to charge Dr. Que under Article 80 of the Criminal Code, which imposes punishment ranging from 12 years imprisonment to the death penalty for persons found guilty of spying or performing intelligence activities for foreign countries. 

Dr. Que's history of political activism goes back many decades.  He was detained without trial in 1978 after criticizing the country's political system.   After he was freed, he founded the High Tide Humanist movement, issuing a manifesto that appealed for support of his moderate, non-violent struggle to establish human rights for all Vietnamese people. He demanded that the Vietnamese government invest in the welfare of its people and reduce the size of its military.  Dr. Que was arrested again in June 1990, and returned to prison without trial.  He was released from prison in September 1998, but remained under virtual house arrest, with constant government surveillance, restrictions on his movement, and restrictions on any use of communication, such as phone calls and letters.

He has been the recipient of numerous awards for his lifelong commitment to human rights including the Raoul Wallenberg Award in 1994, the RFK Human Rights Award in 1995, and the Hellman-Hammett Grant from Human Rights Watch in 2002.

Belying his prominence, a group of 12 Nobel Prize winners wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of Vietnam on September 23, 2003.  On March 17, 2004, his brother had an article entitled "Freedom for Vietnam, Freedom for My Brother" published in the National Review.  On March 30, 2004, 15 former RFK Human Rights Awards Laureates sent a letter to the President of Vietnam urging Dr. Que's release.

Freedom Now was retained in May 2004 by Dr. Que's family to represent him and worked in close partnership with the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial.

On June 3, 2004, Freedom Now filed a Petition to the United Nations Human Rights Commission Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.  The Government of Vietnam filed its Reply on June 17, 2004.

On July 29, 2004, the Government of Vietnam - in a closed trial and without providing him with access to counsel - sentenced Dr. Que to 30 months in prison for "abusing democratic rights to jeopardize the interests of the state."  A strong outcry from groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch condemned Dr. Que's sentence.  On August 6, 2004, Voice of America broadcast an editorial reflecting the official view of the U.S. Government condemning the sentencing of Dr. Que.

On August 30, 2004, Freedom Now filed its Response to the Government of Vietnam's Reply to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.  On October 6, 2004, 12 U.S. Senators and 42 Members of Congress sent letters to the President of Vietnam calling for Dr. Que's release.

The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued Opinion No. 19/2004 on September 16, 2004.  After receiving the opinion in mid-November, Freedom Now released it to the media on November 15 and the judgment received widespread media attention from Agence France Press and Associated Press.

On January 28, 2005, a group of 9 NGOs sent a letter to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan urging that he help secure Dr. Que's release.

A short time later, the Government of Vietnam announced on January 31, 2005, that it would release Dr. Que from prison and he walked free on February 1, 2005.  See, e.g., Vietnam Release Two High Profile Dissidents From Jail in Lunar New Year Amnesty, Associated Press.

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