Vietnam: On 5th anniversary of writer Pham Doan Trang’s arrest, PEN International joins coalition calling for her release

6 October 2025: Ahead of the fifth anniversary of the detention of prominent Vietnamese journalist, writer and woman human rights defender Pham Doan Trang, an international coalition of non-governmental organisations is urging the global community to increase pressure on Vietnamese authorities to secure her release. Trang is imprisoned solely for her work as a journalist and has been languishing in prison in appalling conditions. 

On 6 October 2020, Pham Doan Trang, founder of the online magazines Luat Khoa and The Vietnamese, was arrested at her home in Ho Chi Minh City. She was held incommunicado for over a year and, in December 2021, was sentenced to nine years in prison for “anti-state propaganda,” a vague charge commonly used by the Vietnamese regime to silence journalists.

Since her conviction, Trang’s prison conditions have worsened. In October 2022, she was transferred to a facility nearly 1,000 miles from her family home, making it almost impossible for her 85-year-old mother to visit. Trang has suffered several health issues while imprisoned, including an ongoing disability resulting from an assault by police in 2015 that left her with broken legs. She also suffers from lingering effects of COVID-19 contracted in prison, as well as chronic sinusitis, arthritis, and gynaecological issues. 

"Despite the heavy sentence handed down to Pham Doan Trang, the Vietnamese regime will not be able to erase her fight for press freedom and the right to information in Vietnam. Five years after her arrest, it is more vital than ever to recognise her rigorous journalism and extraordinary courage. It is high time the international community stepped up pressure on Hanoi to secure her release." — The #FreePhamDoanTrang coalition

Trang, a 2019 RSF Press Freedom Prize laureate, a 2022 CPJ International Press Freedom Award winner, a 2024 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award winner, winner of PEN Sweden’s 2025 Tucholsky Prize, and recipient of the 2022 U.S. State Department International Women of Courage Award, is the author of investigative journalism and human rights books that challenge authoritarianism and promote civic empowerment. Her last book, published before her arrest, exposed a police massacre near Hanoi.

Born in 1978 in Hanoi, Trang has faced continuous state repression for her activism. Between 2015 and 2020, she endured roughly 20 temporary detentions, including a 26-hour detention in May 2016 that prevented her from attending a meeting with then-U.S. President Barack Obama, and a nine-day detention in 2009, after which she was dismissed from VietnamNet, where she worked. 

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. The country ranks 173rd out of 180 in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index and is among the world’s leading jailers of journalists and writers, according to RSF, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and PEN America. 

In discussions with the Vietnamese government, the #FreePhamDoanTrang coalition urges the international community to call for:

• Immediate and unconditional release of Pham Doan Trang, as well as other imprisoned journalists and writers; 

• Guarantees of Pham Doan Trang’s safety, psychological well-being, and access to adequate and independent medical care, a lawyer of her own choosing, and weekly video calls with her family.

We, the undersigned, wish to speak out in support of journalist and writer Pham Doan Trang.

Signed by:

1. Reporters without Borders (RSF)

2. Legal Initiatives for Vietnam

3. Committee to Protect Journalists

4. PEN America

5. PEN International

6. PEN Sweden

7. Vietnamese Advocates for Change

8. Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR)

9. Freedom Now

10. International Service for Human Rights

11. Villa Aurora & Thomas Mann House

12. ARTICLE 19

13. Freedom House

14. Amnesty International

15. PEN Vietnamese Abroad Centre

16. Defend the Defenders 2

17. English PEN

18. Front Line Defenders

19. Zone-D

20. Free Press Unlimited (FPU)

21. Vietnam Human Rights Network