Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh
Vietnam Arrests Mother Mushroom, a Top Blogger, for Criticizing Government
Civil Rights Defenders is delighted to announce the 2015 Civil Rights Defender of the Year. Ms. Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh this year’s recipient is Coordinator for the Vietnamese Bloggers Network and well known for her use of social media to speak out against injustices and human rights abuses in Vietnam.
Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh is a blogger and Coordinator of the Vietnamese Bloggers Network. Since 2006, she has been blogging under the pseudonym of Me Nam (Mother Mushroom). She is known for her criticism of the government, including revealing corruption cases and human rights violations committed by the authorities. As a result, she has repeatedly been targeted, including being arrested and physically attacked. In 2014, she received a Human Rights Defender award from the Stockholm-based NGO Civil Rights Defenders.
HRDs working for accountability and democracy receive accusations of being “foreign spies or agents”, “traitors”, or “violators of public order and peace”. HRDS are also subjected to intimidation, threats, interrogation, harassment, arbitrary arrest and detention. When put on trial, they are very often sentenced to heavy jail terms for their human rights work, and mistreated in prison.
