Penalty : 12 year prison sentence
Location : Trai giam B14, Ha Dong, Viet Nam
(B14 Prison Camp, Ha Dong province, Vietnam)

•  Born 1955 in Hanoi, Nguyen Khac Toan served in the North Vietnam army from 1972-77 and participated in the military campaigns against South Vietnam.
  
  
• After the fall of the non-communist South, he became quickly disillusioned with the 'liberation' cause advocated by Hanoi and saw instead the need for real freedom, rule of law, and democracy in the unified Vietnam.
  
  
• In June 1995, when former communist party member Hoang Minh Chinh was arrested for his writings, Nguyen Khac Toan assisted Madame Le Hong Ngoc write appeals to then communist party leaders on behalf of her husband.
  
  
• In recent years, he helped organize the petitions by retired military veterans calling for democracy, social equality, and an end to corruption. He also wrote essays on these topics under the pen names "military veteran Tran Minh Tam," and "Dang Kim Giang."
  
  
• At great risk to himself, Nguyen Khac Toan became in effect a freelance reporter. He helped to distribute within Vietnam the writings of democracy activists such as Nguyen Thanh Giang, Tran Do, and Tran Dung Tien. From November 2001 to January 2002, he was the source for reports on the citizen protests happening right in front of the National Assembly and party headquarters in Hanoi. As a result, he was arrested on January 8, 2002 at an internet café.
  
  
• While Nguyen Khac Toan was imprisoned, his father passed away in Hanoi in September 2002. Authorities refused the family's requests for the son to see his father before his death.
  
  
• On December 20, 2002, authorities sentenced Nguyen Khac Toan to 12 years in prison for "espionage." The trial began at 8 :00am and concluded at 3 :30pm when the judge read out the predetermined sentence. Authorities let defense lawyer Tran Lam meet with his client twice, the first time only 4 days before the trial on Dec 16, and the final meeting on the night before the proceedings. With the presence of security officials at both meetings, there was no chance for lawyer Tran Lam and defendant Nguyen Khac Toan to speak freely.
  
• Nguyen Khac Toan is currently imprisoned in Ha Dong province, northern Vietnam.

• Calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Nguyen Khac Toan who has been imprisoned, as a prisoner of conscience, for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression and assembly.
• Call upon the authorities to end the use of national security legislation which effectively criminalizes peaceful political dissent and to uphold the principles laid out in the International Covenant on Cultural and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Viet Nam is a state party.
• Call upon the authorities to bring an end to unfair trials and to ensure that trials of political dissidents are in keeping with the principles laid out in the ICCPR to which Viet Nam is a state party.
• Call on the authorities to ensure that Nguyen Khac Toan is receiving adequate food and appropriate medical care when necessary in accordance with international standards.
• Urge that all prisoners of conscience detained on account of their political opinions be immediately and unconditionally released.
• Encourage the government to ensure full implementation of the international human rights instruments which it has ratified

In a one day trial on December 20, 2002, the Vietnamese communist authorities sentenced free-lance reporter Nguyen Khac Toan to 12 years in prison for “espionage.” The trial began at 8:00am and concluded at 3:30pm when the judge read out the predetermined sentence.

Besides the defendant’s ailing mother, Nguyen Thi Quyet, who was permitted to attend the trial but unable to do so because of her health, no other family members were allowed to witness the proceedings. As a result, Nguyen Khac Toan’s family had to gather outside the court where they were joined by several of the country’s leading democracy activists including Pham Que Duong, Hoang Minh Chinh, and Hoang Tien.

Authorities let defense lawyer Tran Lam meet with his client twice, the first time only 4 days before the trial on Dec 16, and the final meeting on the night before the proceedings. With the presence of security officials at both meetings, there was no chance for lawyer Tran Lam and defendant Nguyen Khac Toan to speak freely.

Nguyen Khac Toan was punished for participating in the peaceful movement for democracy and social justice in Vietnam. Born 1955 in Hanoi, he served in the North Vietnamese army after completing a university degree in mathematics. Later, he wrote articles detailing injustices in society and his views on democracy and human rights. Most recently, Nguyen Khac Toan reported on the sit-down protests of citizens from rural areas in front of government and party offices in Hanoi. His first hand accounts distributed over the Internet helped publicize rural discontent against official corruption and land confiscation. He was arrested by police at an Internet café in Hanoi on Jan 8, 2002.

This latest mockery of justice in Vietnam, the four year prison sentence given to Internet activist Le Chi Quang in November, and the detention of two other young Internet activists (Nguyen Vu Binh and Pham Hong Son), are a clear sign that the Vietnamese government does not tolerate the free exchange of ideas.

The Free Vietnam Alliance strongly supports Vietnam’s Voices of Conscience. We call on the international community to pressure the Vietnamese authorities to respect its human rights commitments under international law. Now is the time for the U.S. Congress to pass the Vietnam Human Rights Act and for the countries of Europe to follow through on the EU’s resolution supporting freedom and democracy in Vietnam.