VIET NAM: ACTIVIST STILL DENIED ADEQUATE MEDICAL CARE

Your Excellency,

I am concerned about the health of 63-year-old Cấn Thị Thêu, a prominent land rights activist and human rights defender who has been imprisoned in Prison No. 5 in Thanh Hoa province for five years. In a family visit on September 7, Cấn Thị Thêu informed her family that she had been suffering from headaches from August 9 until the end of August but received limited medical treatment.

Having been ill since January 2025 without proper medical care, Cấn Thị Thêu’s health is severely depleted. She can eat only a little rice, as her body struggles to accept anything else. Although the prison has provided supplements to improve blood circulation and improve brain health, and injected piracetam which must be administered under medical supervision, she urgently needs a hospital assessment to evaluate her symptoms, and provide a diagnosis and treatment plan, but the prison continues to refuse this request. They also refused to allow her to accept food brought for her during the visit. Without proper care and regular visits from her family, there are grave concerns for her wellbeing.

I urge you to ensure that Cấn Thị Thêu is immediately and unconditionally released, as she is a prisoner of conscience detained solely for exercising her human right to freedom of expression. Pending her release, Cấn Thị Thêu must be treated in full accordance with the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules), protected from torture and other ill-treatment, and provided access to adequate healthcare.

Yours sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]