Note by Minh: The following is a “guest post“ by a fellow community activists' wife. Dr. Nguyen Quoc Quan, whom I had worked before on pro-democracy work, has been detained in Vietnam among with other young Vietnamese activists of my age. To this date, they remain detained in Vietnam without a fair charge and family visit, and I ask for your help in lobbying the US government to step to intervene in this cause.
Minh T. Nguyen.
Elk Grove, March 6, 2008
To: Religious leaders,
Vietnamese Organizations in US and abroad,
All media,
As of today, March 6, 2008, the Vietnamese government has held my husband, Dr Nguyen Quoc Quan, for exactly 110 days without charge and without family visit. When the US Consulate in Saigon was last able to see him in prison, the Vietnamese government cut down the visitation time from 30 minutes to 15 minutes. They also forbid letters to and from our family to be delivered despite our multiple requests. They cut off the conversation when the US Consulate representative asked my husband about access to newspapers in prison; they then iterated that only questions on his health are permitted. I believe the Vietnamese government actions are intended to terrorize and to intimidate my husband.
To fend off that pressure, I had written to the US ambassador asking him to intervene with the Vietnamese government to let me accompany the US consulate during their scheduled March visitation with my husband. The US embassy has replied that my request was forwarded to Vietnamese authorities. I then went ahead and bought my plane ticket but on Feb. 29, the Vietnamse vice consul in San Francisco, Ms Phuong Tran, called and without explanation indicated they had canceled my visa and requested that I return the visa they already issued.
My children and I are very disappointed and concerned because of these events. We worry for my husband who must endure the psychological intimidation in prison and we are terribly upset with the actions of the Vietnamese government. I’m writing this letter to ask all Vietnamese communities and news organizations around the world to please help me and my children by writing, faxing or emailing the US representatives listed below to thank them for their support of my family and to ask for their continued assistance to allow me to visit my husband in prison in Vietnam.
By raising your voice now, you’d show the support of the Vietnamese community for democracy activists like my husband, and pressure the Vietnamese authorities to free my husband as well as other activists. Moreover, your voice would be of comfort to me and my children during this difficult and lonely time.
Thank you very much
Ngô Mai Huong
The following US representatives have supported my family in the past. Please phone, fax or email their office to thank them for their support and ask them to intervene on my behalf so I can travel to Vietnam to visit my husband.
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Dear ….
Thank you for your effort to help gain the release of Dr. Nguyen Quoc Quan, a pro-democracy activist currently detained by Vietnamese authorities. Please continue to provide assistance to Dr. Quan's wife, Ms Huong Ngo, in her quest to travel to Vietnam to visit her husband. Again, my appreciation for your support of Dr. Quan and his family.
Sign your name
Address
Phone
Congressman Dan Lungren
Phone: (916) 859-9906
Fax: (916) 859-9976, (202) 226-1298
Email: https://forms.house.gov/lungren/forms/email.shtml
Senator Barbara Boxer
Phone: (202) 224-3553
Fax: (202) 224-0454
Email: https://boxer.senate.gov/contact/email/policy.cfm
Senator Dianne Feinstein
Phone: (415) 393-0707
Fax: (415) 393-0710
Email: http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.EmailMe
Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez
Phone: (714) 621-0102
Fax: (714) 621-0401, (202) 225-5859
Email: http://www.lorettasanchez.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=218&Itemid=17
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren
Phone: (408) 271-8700
Fax: (408) 271-8713, (202) 225-3336
Congressman Ed Royce
Phone - (714) 992-8081
Fax - (714) 992-1668, Fax - (202) 226-0335
Congresswoman Doris Matusi
Phone: (202) 225-7163
Fax: (202) 225-0566
Email: http://matsui.house.gov/email.asp