The Vietnamese Government Unlawfully Prevents People from Attending the Funeral of Hoang Minh Chinh, Secretary General of the Democratic Party of Vietnam (DPV)

02.16.08, 4:53 AM ET

With admiration and respect for Professor Hoang Minh Chinh, the Secretary General of the Democratic Party of Vietnam (DPV), as well as the Vietnamese tradition, a U.S. doctor who went to Vietnam to attend Professor Chinh's funeral was interrogated and forced out of the country.

On Feb. 15, 2008 at 3 PM, one day before the funeral, the Vietnam government ordered a team of police to enter the Sheraton Hotel in Hanoi and forced Dr. Nguyen Thi An Nhan to the nearby Police station and interrogated her for more than six hours. Finally, they escorted her to the airport and demanded she leave the country that night, Feb. 15, 2008.

Dr. Nguyen Thi An Nhan joined the Democratic Party of Vietnam (DPV) on June 1, 2006, when Professor Hoang Minh Chinh officially declared the reestablishment of the DPV. She also is one of the doctors who took care of Professor Hoang Minh Chinh when he was in the United States in August 2005 for cancer treatment.

Dr. Nhan, 39, is a graduate of Harvard University Medical School and spent two years of volunteer service around the world, including working in Vietnam for the UN World Health Organization. (WHO). She then went on to Stanford University to become a hearth surgeon and is currently a heart surgeon specialist at Stanford Medical Hospital in Palo Alto, California.

The action of the Vietnam government is unlawful and unacceptable in the world community, and is just the opposite of what the Vietnam government agreed to when it joined the WTO and the United Nations.

During the week leading up to Hoang Minh Chinh's funeral, the Vietnam government also presented many difficulties for those people who wanted to attend the funeral, especially those activists promoting democracy in Vietnam.

The DPV deplores this action and requests that the government of Vietnam obey the law and justify their action in the future.

·                                 http://www.forbes.com/businesswire/feeds/businesswire/2008/02/16/businesswire20080216005016r1.html  Forbes

·                                 http://news.morningstar.com/newsnet/ViewNews.aspx?article=/BW/20080216005016_univ.xml Morning star

·                                 http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/the-vietnamese-government-unlawfully-prevents-people-from-attending-the-funeral,282144.shtml Earth Times

·                                 http://www.newsobserver.com/1566/story/948066.html News & observer

·                                 http://finance.denverpost.com/mng-denver?Account=denverpost&GUID=4634608&Page=MediaViewer&ChannelID=3191 Denver Post