Vietnamese political prisoner tells daughter her life was threatened

By RFA Vietnamese2024.10.29

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Nguyen Thi Tam, serving a six-year sentence for “propaganda against the state” at a prison in Vietnam, said her cellmate threatened to kill her, Tam’s daughter told Radio Free Asia.

Since April, she has been sharing a cell with a woman jailed for drug offenses at the prison in Thanh Hoa province.

Tam told her daughter the woman, who Radio Free Asia is not identifying given the sensitivity of the situation, swore at her, kicked her legs when she was trying to sleep at night and threatened to “beat her to death.”

She complained to prison guards and asked them to move the woman to another cell but said officers only tried to reassure her, saying they had already “disciplined and educated” her cellmate. However, Tam said the problems didn’t stop.

“My mother sleeps a lot during the day and doesn’t dare sleep at night because she’s afraid that when everyone else is asleep, she might be in danger,” her daughter, Nguyen Thanh Mai, told RFA on Monday following a phone call with Tam.

Mai said her mother’s mental and physical health were under a lot of strain because of her cellmate’s behavior. She is already suffering from uterine fibroids and stiff joints.

RFA Vietnamese called Prison No. 5, where Tam is being held, but no one answered the telephone.

Tam said she thought prison authorities were punishing her for speaking out against officers’ behavior, such as unreasonably confiscating personal belongings, and poor conditions, such as overcrowded cells.

On Oct. 20, two officers took Tam to the communal hall to watch a Vietnam Womens’ Day performance, during which a female officer sat next to her. Whenever a fellow inmate started talking to Tam, the officer moved them away.

Former political prisoner Dang Thi Hue, who was held at Prison No. 5 from May 2021 to January 2023, said she had also shared a cell with the woman who threatened Tam.

She told RFA the abusive prisoner is protected by guards who use her to try to destroy the will of other inmates, particularly political prisoners.

Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.