Australian retiree’s 12-year jail term highlights Vietnam’s tightening grip on dissent
- Chau Van Kham, a former baker from New South Wales, was sentenced along with two democracy activists for ‘terrorist activities against the state’
- But human rights campaigners say the trial was a miscarriage of justice and part of a wave of repression against anyone authorities deem a threat
A 12-year jail term handed to a 70-year-old Australian retiree in Vietnam for “terrorist activities against the state” has renewed international focus on Hanoi’s squeeze on government critics after recent prosecutions of two Americans of Vietnamese descent.
Chau Van Kham, a former baker from New South Wales, was accused of giving campaigner Nguyen Van Vien, 48, US$400 towards Viet Tan, a pro-democracy opposition group banned in communist-ruled Vietnam but which the United Nations has described as a “peaceful organisation”.
Vien, a member of another prohibited group, the Brotherhood for Democracy, was also put on trial and given an 11-year sentence, while a fellow activist, Tran Van Quyen, 20, received 10 years.
Both the latter will spend an extra five years under house arrest after their release from jail, while Kham will likely be deported.
Kham’s case has drawn fury from human rights groups who say the jail term is essentially a death sentence for a man his age.
“Given the harsh and unforgiving conditions in Vietnamese prisons, he will face huge challenges to survive his entire sentence,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division.
