My first impression of Lawyer Le Quoc Quan was the image of a man being "dragged away" by half a dozen of policemen in front of the Chinese Embassy in Hanoi while shouting: "Spratly and Paracel Islands belong to Vietnam." It was on September 12, 2007, the first day since 1975 when people dared to take to the streets to express their patriotism, to protest the Chinese invasion of Vietnam. He probably did not know of me then. Later on, when in contact with him, I was surprised that he never talked to me about human rights or democracy, the values that he and I are both pursuing. I noticed another interesting trait about him, it was the fact that he likes joke stories and he told those stories very charmingly.
Just over a month after I was released from prison, his brother - Mr Le Dinh Quan - was arrested. A few days later, "Hanoi police came over to the village of Vinh Hoa, Vinh diocese to arrest Ms Nguyen Thi Oanh, who is Quan’s cousin when she returned to nurse her pregnancy as well as looking after her sick father" (quoted in "Letter to announce and call for concern” by the Le Quoc Quan’s family). The tragedy had not stopped there. On 27/12/2012, while on the way to take his children to school, Quan was intercepted and arrested by dozens of policemen right in front of his children. By this action, they had also robbed his children of their childhood. All the three brothers were arrested on the charge of "tax evasion" while "Dong Da District Tax Department had put Vietnam Credit Company (where Le Dinh Quan is the CEO) on the Merit List for full and timely tax payment." I can not imagine how I would endure if I were in that situation. He would have to live those days in jail while feeling the pain of his mother, his wife’s and his children’s. He would feel for the pain of his cousin and of the niece or nephew waiting to be born.
When in solitary confinement I was put next to Quynh’s cell, a prisoner who was also awaiting to be a father. Quynh was arrested when coming back home to mourn his father’s funeral after days running away from the police. Quynh told me: "Maybe my wife will give birth exactly on the day my father is offered his 49th day of death commemoration. But I do not know it’ll be a boy or girl". Quynh would sing every night, and sing beautifully very melancholy songs. I often am haunted by his voice (rather than the mood) of Quynh. I remember most the lyrics:
"O my friends in jail,
My child was born, a boy or a girl?
My love at home please care for our child
I will see you in the next life ... "
I do not know if Quynh’s wife gave birth to a boy or girl, whether or not the birth was on time as he had calculated and how many years he was convicted because he was transferred to somewhere else a few days later. But at least, while giving birth to their child in his absend, she would still be blessed and cared by families of both sides and friends. Quynh, a few years later, would be back holding his baby in his arms to enjoy the happiness of fatherhood. His situation was pathetic though, but not so worrying as Oanh’s. The arrest and detention of a pregnant woman was not only violating the law (specifically Article 88 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Law on Protection and Violations of Care for Mothers and Children, a violation of the provisions of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights that Vietnam has been a signatory or acceded to), but also deeply offensive to Vietnam’s traditional morality and honour. Furthermore, Lawyer Le Quoc Quan’s family said they "received information that their kin is discriminated while in prison." Taking as a former prisoner of conscience, I dare assert what is "discrimination" is not unfounded. Ms. Oanh, though not arrested for the crime called "propaganda against the state ..." like me but she as an cousin sister of Le Quoc Quan - a democracy activist, is good enough for her to be treated ... specially. They would isolate her with other prisoners, she would be seen as a traitor worthy of hate. They would threaten or warn anyone who wants to help her or be close to her. But a pregnant woman desperately needs that help. They would use the law (saying it has been said properly in the written rules) so that her family would not be able to send her blankets, warm clothes. Or even allowed to send ... with certain conditions that she cannot or does not want to do. As such I am, because I refused to let them stamp the word "PRISONERS" on my clothes I had to fight off the bitter cold that almost cut into the flesh for several years. She would not be allowed to buy food, utensils which are "over the standard" and as such she would be prone to be hungry, cold because "the law has said so". And yet, every day she would suffer interrogation, sometimes twice a day and may last up to several months. Just wish they would not shackle her legs as they did with me.
At this point, I do not dare think about more horrible things. I do not want to remember but the story of a fellow prisoner who died a few days before me released home, is hovering in my head. Sister Tuyen talked about the life soaked with tears of hers. Husband died early, she strived to make a living in a foreign land. Then she met a man. On entering the prison she was pregnant. She did not understand why they - the interrogating security guards - had to hit her so hard that she was so miscarried. While what she knew, did she had told them all already. In the camp, she was grouped into the farming team, in the same cell with me. In the days she was ill, the warden (the person in charge of production) still forced her to work. Until the illness became too severe, could not force her anymore, they had to take her to the hospital. Once, she told me: "I will surely bless you when I die". I felt the cold running in all my body! The following days she was really dead. She died of exhaustion, but it was rumoured that she died of AIDS. Told this story, I knew it was not fair for you readers when the new year was near. I did not even mean to instill in Oanh’s relatives anxiety and panic. If only because she was Quan’s cousin that they treated her so strictly, then I hope that with the same reason, they would not cause any crime to her. In the final moments of 2012, in the middle of the freezing weather in Hanoi, I hope that you all have peace and "feel freedom even in captivity," as what Quan has ever written . Le Quoc Quan, Le Dinh Quan, Nguyen Thi Oanh, Nguyen Hoang Vi - those who do not live with their own identities. You all know to place on your shoulders the country's destiny. And forgive the perpetrators as the Lord preaches.
I pray that the Almighty stop the crime hands and protect his children. For no one would be unjust imprisonment, a creature does not have to wait to be born in the dungeons. To no girls beaten, stripped naked right in the police station as Hoang Vi was because of patriotism. My God! I begged You, “the prayer that pains all mankind."
Hai Phong, 31/12/2012
Pham Thanh Nghien.
(*) Writer Nguyen Xuan Nghia’s poem , written in 2007.
I read today the news of Oanh’s unborn baby (Lawyer Le Quoc Quan’s cousin) who had died after 28 weeks of age. I became very emotional and thought that we need to denounce this Viet Cong’s barbaric act to incarcerate arbitrarily pregnant women.
Thanh Nghien.
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