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Viet Tan has accused the Vietnamese government of abducting two of its members in Cambodia and forcibly returning them across the border in what the group described as an act of transnational repression. The pro-democracy organisation said Nguyen Duc Thuan and Tran Hiep also known as Ho Pham Hiep Huy disappeared on September 18 while travelling in the southern Cambodian district of Kaoh Andaet near the Vietnamese border. According to a statement from Viet Tan the men had been in Cambodia to meet with human rights defenders and had no intention of entering Vietnam.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security announced late on September 28 that it had arrested three men including Thuan and Huy on September 18 as they tried to cross illegally from Cambodia. The ministry identified the third individual as Thai Cong Truong Son and said all three admitted to membership in Viet Tan which Vietnamese authorities designate as a terrorist organisation. The ministry added that the men carried forged documents and intended to conduct terrorist and sabotage activities with an investigation continuing into additional criminal acts.
Thuan a 52-year-old Norwegian citizen residing in Oslo and Huy a 51-year-old Australian resident of Melbourne had flown into Phnom Penh from Bangkok on September 15 according to accounts given to UCA News by Viet Tan executive director Duy Hoang. The pair were scheduled to return to Bangkok on September 19 but never boarded their flight and last communicated with family on the morning of their disappearance. Hoang told UCA News that the case did not appear to be an ordinary missing persons incident given the men’s long history as human rights defenders.
Human Rights Watch has documented a pattern of transnational repression by Vietnamese authorities in recent years including the 2017 abduction of Trinh Xuan Thanh from Germany and the 2019 and 2023 abductions of activists from Thailand. A Viet Tan report released earlier in September detailed 20 cases in which Vietnamese officials allegedly pursued critics abroad through methods ranging from threats against family members to kidnappings. Phil Robertson an Asia human rights advocate cited in UCA News coverage said the sudden disappearance of the two Viet Tan members carried all the hallmarks of such repression.
The Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats which counts Viet Tan as a member issued a statement on September 26 expressing deep concern over the activists’ incommunicado status since September 18. The council called on Cambodian authorities to assist in locating the pair and urged the Norwegian and Australian foreign ministries to apply pressure on both Cambodian and Vietnamese officials. Families of the men have also filed an appeal with the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances according to multiple reports.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed that consular officials were assisting Huy’s family Reuters reported on September 29. Viet Tan has called on the governments of Australia and Norway along with international human rights bodies to press for the men’s immediate and unconditional release. The organisation rejected the Vietnamese allegations as a blatant fabrication intended to conceal the abduction.
Vietnamese authorities charged the three men on September 29 with membership of a terrorist organisation and said they would face prosecution according to the law once the investigation concluded. The case has drawn renewed attention to Vietnam’s treatment of overseas pro-democracy activists with Human Rights Watch previously criticising the use of vague national security laws to silence dissent both inside the country and beyond its borders.
