Cong Thanh Do

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article documents a current event.
Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

Cong Thanh Do (born ca. 1959) is a Vietnamese American human rights activist.

Do emigrated from Vietnam to the US in 1982. He advocates a multi-party democratic system for Vietnam, and has been accused of plotting to overthrow the Vietnamese government. On 14 August 2006 he was arrested while on holiday in Phan Thiet and held in jail in Ho Chi Minh City without trial. On 14 August 2006 he began a hunger strike. His imprisonment was protested by a petition to the US Congress calling for the blocking of economic trade agreement, Permanent Normal Trade Relations, PNTR, between the US and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, SRVN. Under international pressure, the SRVN released Do from jail and deported him back to the United States on 21 September 2006.

He is a democacy activist for political change in Vietnam and his written various political topics calling for democractic elections in Vietnam and posting them on the internet in the United States.

He was forced to leave his country of South Vietnam due to political changes when the communist North Vietnamese Army defeated the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), after the Fall of Saigon and the nation was ruled under a communist dictatorship.

[edit] Exile in the United States

He is an advocate of free elections in Vietnam under the pen name "Nam Tran" with which he posts his political papers on the internet and various Vietnamese language newpapers in the United States and overseas.

On August 14, 2006, Vietnamese police officers entered his family's home and called Do and his wife in for questioning for his alleged involvement in the anti-communist organization known as The Government of Free Vietnam (GFVN). His wife was then allowed to leave. Do was then detained and not allowed to leave the country.

The GFVN has issued a statement of non-affiliation with Mr. Do, who in actuality is a founding member of the People's Democratic Party of Vietnam.

In protest of his detainment without due process by the Vietnamese government, Mr. Do began what was to be a 38 day hunger strike, drinking only water and, occasionally, milk. He was deported back to the United States on September 21, 2006.

The SRVN continues its propaganda, deeming Do a national terrorist and threat to Viet Nam.

[edit] Remarks in Protest of Arrest in Vietnam

"The Vietnamese government has now taken the unprecedented step of imprisoning a United States citizen who states that he is being held solely because of his pro-democratic, non-violent views," said US Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren [1]

"Urging Congress not to grant Vietnam permanent normal trading relations until Do is freed. That economic status is a necessary step in Vietnam's bid to join the World Trade Organization. Vietnam's entry into the WTO is expected before the end of the year." Van Tran, a prominent Vietnamese-American state assemblyman from Southern California. [2]