Because You Should Know: Tran Khai Thanh Thuy

Sunday, July 03, 2011

From the news wire:

Vietnamese dissident author Tran Khai Thanh Thuy met Friday with a US congressman active on human rights, days after she was released from prison in a rare move by the Hanoi government.

Representative Ed Royce, whose district in California's Orange County has a large Vietnamese American community, met there with Thuy and said they discussed strategies for advancing rights in the communist country.

"Tran Khai Thanh Thuy has been leading the fight for democracy and human rights in Vietnam. She has paid a great price, including physical assault by communist government thugs," Royce said in a statement.

"Her release is great news for Vietnamese Americans and all committed to freedom," Royce said.

Thuy was sentenced to three and a half years in prison in February 2010 on an assault charge, which she said during her one-day trial was "a fabrication and total slander."
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