Vietnam Court Upholds 10-year Sentence for Blogger Mother Mushroom

Today, 30 November, the Supreme Court of Danang upheld the 10-year sentence of prominent human rights defender and blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (known by her pen name Mother Mushroom). The appeal hearing lasted only a few hours. Before the hearing, Mother Mushroom’s mother and supporters were blocked from entering and only allowed at the last minutes to watch the proceedings from another room. Afterward, supporters who had gathered outside the courthouse to peacefully demonstrate against the decision were arbitrarily detained, including her mother.

Civil Rights Defenders denounces the decision to uphold Mother Mushroom’s 10 year sentence. She should never have been detained in the first place. A courageous human rights defender, Mother Mushroom has devoted years to promoting and protecting the rights of Vietnamese citizens and yet for her peaceful expression she has been arrested and sentenced to a lengthy term in prison. Her ongoing deprivation of liberty constitutes a clear violation of Vietnam’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Civil Rights Defenders calls for her immediate release and an end to the harassment of her family and supporters.

For more on Mother Mushroom, Civil Rights Defenders wrote a public statement on the one year anniversary of her arrest on 10 October 2016.