Police question students of shuttered Vietnamese education company

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A non-profit organization that offered courses aimed at fostering independent thinking among Vietnamese citizens still has the attention of government investigators almost a year after it was forced to shut down. 

Authorities have summoned some 50 students and teachers for questioning in the 10 months since FreeHub Education Solutions Company Ltd., or FreeHub, was closed, according to Nguyen Ho Nhat Thanh, the company’s founder.

FreeHub opened in 2022 with the goal of giving learners the ability to think from multiple perspectives and make sound decisions in their personal lives. It offered courses – both online and in person – in philosophy, psychology, sociology, economics, history, culture and art. 

Even though the classes didn’t discuss Vietnamese politics, authorities still viewed FreeHub as a threat, Thanh told Radio Free Asia on Monday.

“It worried security agencies, who accused us of having toppling schemes,” he said. “The current regime is an ideological dictatorship. Therefore, different thinking flows are seen as threats.”

Vietnamese courts have sentenced numerous journalists, boggers and activists over the last decade in an ongoing campaign to crush dissent. 

Additionally, more than 60 people have been convicted and jailed for long terms for suspected links to a self-proclaimed government-in-exile that was founded in the U.S. in 1991. The Ministry of Public Security listed the group – known as the Provisional National Government of Vietnam – as a terrorist organization in 2018. 

Summoned for questioning

Thanh, also known as Paulo Thanh Nguyen, said he closed FreeHub in late 2023 in response to police harassment of its students in several locations.

In the announcement posted on his personal Facebook page, Thanh wrote that trouble with authorities began after FreeHub offered a course on community development. Since then, FreeHub’s Facebook page has been taken down and its service provider has blocked access to its website.

Security forces have continued to target students anyway, going to their homes or summoning them to government offices where they have been told to write personal reflections or reports, Thanh said, citing discussions with students.

Security officers forced them to hand over their cellphones and laptops and to provide passwords, he added. 

“Teachers have also been summoned,” Thanh said. “Security officers said the program was run by a reactionary organization, distorting many things and warning them they were not allowed to continue participating.”

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The Ministry of Public Security seems to want to make FreeHub into a major case by linking it with overseas organizations already labeled as “hostile forces,” Thanh added. 

Police have only summoned FreeHub students and teachers so far. Thanh said he believes authorities are collecting evidence for his eventual arrest.

RFA called the Ministry of Public Security’s Security Investigation Agency to seek comment on Thanh’s accusations. The officer who answered the phone suggested that RFA’s reporter come to headquarters in person or send in a written request in order to receive a response.

Thanh previously organized human rights events like “Human Rights Coffee” – a space for activists to meet following anti-China protests in Hanoi in 2014. He has also conducted training programs for young activists in various cities and provinces.

Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.