Hoang Thi Minh Hong, the latest environmentalist accused of tax evasion, also has no access to a lawyer. Read more at straitstimes.com.
is being held incommunicado and has no access to a lawyer, rights groups said on Tuesday.
Hoang Thi Minh Hong – the founder of now-defunct non-governmental organisation Change, which advocated for action on climate change and wildlife protection – is the latest environmentalist to be accused of tax evasion by Vietnam’s authoritarian government. Hong had been widely recognised for her work, joining the Obama Foundation Scholars programme at Columbia University in New York in 2018.
On Tuesday, more than 60 environmental and human rights groups, including Amnesty International, Greenpeace UK and Friends of the Earth US, published an open letter urging former US president Barack Obama to demand her release.“She faces up to seven years behind bars and if found guilty, she may be subjected to a prison system that is known for torture and wilful neglect.”The United Nations, the United States and Britain have expressed concerns over the arrest.
Hong founded Change in 2013, focusing on mobilising Vietnamese, particularly young people, to take action against pressing environmental issues including climate change, the illegal wildlife trade and pollution.But she announced in 2022 that Change would close after Vietnam’s communist government handed down prison terms for tax evasion to four environmental human rights defenders, Nguy Thi Khanh, Mai Phan Loi, Bach Hung Duong and Dang Dinh Bach.
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