09/28/2024 |
Former prisoner of conscience Huynh Thi To Nga was sentenced to six years in prison in 2019 for “conducting propaganda against the state” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code.
She was arrested on January 28, 2019, along with her older brother Huynh Minh Tam, for their online activities advocating for human rights and pluralistic democracy.
Recently, Huynh Thi To Nga had to leave the country and flee to Thailand due to the risk of being arrested by the Vietnamese authorities for the second time.
Huynh Thi To Nga and her older brother Huynh Minh Tam at the Dong Nai provincial court on November 28, 2019
Here is the latest article by her recounting what happened:
In exile
In a few days, it will be six months since I left my beloved home, the home that my husband and I had built with our own hands for so many years. I had to leave, choosing the path of hiding from communism so as not to have to go to prison again. After being released from prison, the Ho Chi Minh City police isummoned me to work many times and forced me to stop writing articles, if I continued, they would arrest me again, they and I discussed this point of view frankly, they would arrest me again, not just threating. I told them many times that I did not agree, I could not bow my head and live in silence. Even if I bowed my head in silence, with their nature, having understood my thoughts, they would never leave me alone.
I only have the path to continue the work I have chosen. I say that setting out the direction for building the country is “work” because I think I have to be responsible for what I have chosen, what I have done, not just say it when I like, do it when I like, and leave it when I don’t like it.
From September 2023, that six months after I was released from prison, they began to be tense with me, they followed my every step, investigated those who had contact with me, even though these people knew nothing about me personally. From then until I left, they sent many summoning letters requesting me to go to their office for working, sommoned my husband many times, went to my husband’s hospital to question him. When I didn’t go to work, they came to my house to seek for me, but I didn’t leave the house. I knew that I couldn’t escape their hands, so I decided to leave Vietnam. I only had two days to decide on this choice, one was to stay in Vietnam and go to jail again, this time in jail would be much longer than the first time, unable to continue my current job, or to leave Vietnam and possibly never return, possibly never see my relatives again. Both choices were cruel!
Friends who knew about the incident advised me to leave, not to hesitate for a moment, they tried to help me leave Vietnam. I took the risk of taking my daughter with me, because I couldn’t bear to see her cry knowing that I had to leave like that. I had to manage the journey myself, I could be arrested at any time or lose my life. This was an experience I would never forget. My daughter said she would also write down her feelings when she went with me like this, although she didn’t fully understand the real dangers that she would face when going like that, but she understood a little bit.
After I left, the police came to my house, looking for me continuously. Those days, only my son and my husband were at home. When my husband went to work, my son was home alone and had to lock the door, not daring to go out. They came to my house and knocked on the door to seek for me. My son was scared and silent. They couldn’t find me, so they asked my neighbors about me. Of course, how could my neighbors know what was going on and tell them? They questioned my husband many times, telling him to advise me to meet them (like confessing).
Until they forced my husband to meet them for interrogation, my husband kept quiet and went with my son to Thailand with me. If he was late, they would probably ban him from leaving the country. All the calls to my husband were from Ho Chi Minh City security, not the local police. My husband had to quit his job without notice. After arriving in Thailand, my husband informed the hospital that he had quit his job. Luckily, his agency sympathized and resolved the issue, even though they didn’t know why it was so sudden.
I have kept quiet about my departure until now, continued to write articles as usual, had to pretend that I am still in Vietnam until now, if they did not “terrorize” people who were not related to me in Vietnam, I probably would not have said anything.
The Vietnamese police have known that I went to Thailand for a long time, they themselves told my neighbors that I had gone to Thailand and wanted these people to know what I was currently doing. They deliberately questioned people they thought had contact with me in Thailand to find out where I was. They asked for the wifi password of the neighbor’s house that shared the same wifi with my house in Vietnam, they went from house to house asking for my phone number, they used their expertise to find out my whereabouts in Thailand by any means possible. They did not give up the trick of transnational repression, did they want to kidnap me now?
Of course, no one knows where I am, only in Thailand, even my family in Vietnam, they do not know exactly where I am. I have never revealed it to anyone, including the person who guided me to Thailand. It is not because I do not trust, but because communicating via the device will have the risk of information leakage, whether texting or calling.
I say this so that the security forces understand, do not waste time looking for my family or my friends, neighbors to ask about my whereabouts anymore. You guys doing this will only make you look bad. Leave them alone!
Huynh Thi To Nga
Sep 28, 2024
Wandering around in a foreign country
Let’s see how the home country’s fate will be!
