Career
Do emigrated from Vietnam to the United States in 1982. He advocates a multi-party democratic system for Vietnam, and has been accused of plotting to overthrow the Vietnamese government. On 14 August 2006 he was arrested while on holiday in Phan Thiet and held in jail in Ho Chi Minh City without trial.
On 14 August 2006 he began a hunger strike.
Under international pressure, the SRVN released Do from jail and deported him back to the United States on 21 September 2006. He is a democracy activist for political change in Vietnam and his written various political topics calling for democratic elections in Vietnam and posting them on the internet in the United States.
He was forced to leave his country of South Vietnam due to political changes when the communist North Vietnamese Army defeated the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), after the Fall of Saigon and the nation was ruled under a communist dictatorship. Do was then detained and not allowed to leave the country.
In protest of his detainment without due process by the Vietnamese government, Mr.
Do began what was to be a 38-day hunger strike, drinking only water and, occasionally, milk. He was deported back to the United States on September 21, 2006. The SRVN deems Do to be a national terrorist and threat to Vietnam.
"The Vietnamese government has now taken the unprecedented step of imprisoning a United States citizen who states that he is being held solely because of his pro-democratic, non-violent views," said United States Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren
"Urging Congress not to grant Vietnam permanent normal trading relations until Do is freed.
That economic status is a necessary step in Vietnam"s bid to join the World Trade Organization. Vietnam"s entry into the World Trade Organization is expected before the end of the year." Van Tran, a prominent Vietnamese-American state assemblyman from Southern California.
