27 May 2025 – Legal Initiatives for Vietnam (LIV) joins a coalition of international non-governmental organisations calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Vietnamese journalist and writer Pham Doan Trang on her 47th birthday. Her case raises serious concerns as she is denied access to legal counsel and medical treatment, despite her deteriorating health.
“I don’t want freedom for myself, that’s too easy. No, I want something greater – freedom for Vietnam.” – Pham Doan Trang
Pham Doan Trang is the co-founder of the independent news sites Luat Khoa Magazine and The Vietnamese Magazine. She was arrested at her home in 2020, shortly after publishing an investigative report on a deadly police raid in a village near Hanoi. After being held incommunicado for over a year, she was sentenced to nine years in prison for allegedly disseminating “anti-state propaganda”.
Pham Doan Trang’s situation is critical, as she suffers from several health conditions worsened by her detention: lingering effects of Covid-19 contracted while in prison, chronic sinusitis, arthritis, and gynaecological issues. Her prolonged imprisonment, combined with the isolation from her family, is also likely to impact her mental health. In October 2022, she was transferred to a prison in southern Vietnam, nearly 1,600 kilometres from her family home, making visits from her 83-year-old mother extremely difficult.
Born on 27 May 1978 in Hanoi, Pham Doan Trang has faced continuous repression for her fight for freedom of information in Vietnam. She is the author of numerous investigative journalism books as well as books on democracy and human rights that challenge authoritarianism and promote civic empowerment. Her last book, published before her arrest, exposed a massacre committed by police in a village near Hanoi.
Between 2015 and 2020, she’s been subjected to around 20 temporary detentions. The longest lasted 26 hours, on 23–24 May 2016, when security forces prevented her from attending a meeting in Hanoi between then-US President Barack Obama and civil society organisations. In August–September 2009, she was detained for nine days and subsequently dismissed by VietnamNet, the media outlet she worked for.
Pham Doan Trang’s case is emblematic of the Vietnam regime’s campaign of repression against journalists and writers, as part of an escalating crackdown on the right to information. Voices critical of the regime are regularly accused of disseminating ‘propaganda against the state’ or ‘abusing democratic freedoms’ and can be sentenced to up to twenty years in prison. The Vietnamese government also suppresses its citizens by monopolizing traditional media while censoring and surveilling expression online.
Vietnam continues to crack down on free expression, targeting writers, journalists, and everyday voices of dissent. According to PEN America’s 2024 Freedom to Write Index, Vietnam ranks as the third-largest jailer of writers globally, with 23 writers behind bars. Vietnam ranks 173rd out of 180 in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index and is among the world’s leading jailers of journalists according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
In discussions with the Vietnamese government, we urge the international community to call for:
- Immediate and unconditional release Pham Doan Trang, as well as other imprisoned journalists and writers;
- Guaranteeing Pham Doan Trang’s safety, psychological well-being and access to adequate and independent medical care, as well as to a lawyer of her own choosing.
- An end to threats and intimidation against writers, journalists, dissidents, and their families for exercising free expression.
Aleksandra Bielakowska, Advocacy Manager, Reporters Without Borders, (RSF) Asia Pacific Bureau:
“Through her rigorous journalistic work and extraordinary courage, Pham Doan Trang embodies the struggle for press freedom and the right to information in Vietnam. The repression she’s enduring is intolerable and demands urgent action. The international community must put pressure on the Vietnamese regime to release her and demand that, at the very least, she receives adequate and independent medical care.”
Quynh-Vi Tran, Taiwan Office Director of Legal Initiatives for Vietnam (LIV): “Pham Doan Trang remains a powerful source of inspiration for the younger generation, especially for young journalists in Vietnam who believe in building an independent press. They see the sacrifices she has made, exchanging her own liberty for the freedom of others. Prison is no place for her. Her unbroken spirit continues to inspire others to seek their own path to freedom. She must be released immediately.”
Shawn Crispin, Senior Southeast Asia Representative, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ): “Pham Doan Trang is the epitome of courage in the face of Vietnam’s relentless persecution of independent journalists, the voice of a free press Vietnam’s Communist Party will stop at nothing to repress. Authorities may hope her message has been stifled and forgotten in the darkness of a prison cell. But the reality is that Trang’s call for press freedom has never been more potent and far-reaching, and Vietnam’s abuse of journalists has never been so blatant and shameful for the world to see. It’s high time to set Trang and all imprisoned journalists in Vietnam free.”
Anh-Thu Vo, Research & Advocacy Manager, PEN America: “Today, on Pham Doan Trang’s birthday, we are reminded of her extraordinary courage and the sacrifices she has made for the principles of freedom and justice. In the darkest circumstances, Trang’s writings shine as a beacon of hope and resistance. Authorities in Vietnam must end Trang’s unjust imprisonment and restore her freedom, allowing her to continue her vital work unencumbered by threats to her safety and security.”
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Spokespeople are available for interviews in English/Vietnamese:
Legal Initiatives for Vietnam (Taiwan): Quynh-Vi Tran, vi.tran@liv.ngo
Reporters Without Borders (Taiwan/Paris): Aleksandra Bielakowska, abielakowska@rsf.org
Committee to Protect Journalists (Bangkok): Shawn Crispin, scrispin@cpj.org
PEN America (New York): Anh-Thu Vo, avo@pen.org
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