Nguyễn Chí Tuyến

Nguyễn Chí Tuyến (born 1974), also known as Anh Chí, is a Vietnamese human rights activist. He first came to prominence as one of the founding members of No-U FC, an association football club that was founded in protest against China's territorial claims on maritime areas claimed by Vietnam in the South China Sea. He later went on to become an environmental activist and a noted critic of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Activism

No-U FC In 2011, Tuyến protested for the first time following an incident where Chinese patrol boats cut the cables of a Vietnamese ship in the South China Sea. The protest was met with harassment from the police, as well as the mass arrest of protesters, including Tuyến. He subsequently became a founding member of No-U FC, a football club based in Hanoi established in part due to football being legal in Vietnam and met with less hostility from the authorities than protesting. No-U FC was critical of the Communist Party of Vietnam's close relationship and dependence on the Chinese Communist Party, which it felt prevented the Vietnamese government from challenging its Chinese counterpart's claims in the South China Sea, including the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands. In addition to its protests against Chinese expansion, through No-U FC, Tuyến also committed charitable acts, including building schools in rural areas of Vietnam and offering support to victims of natural disasters in the country.

Tuyến was critical of the Vietnamese government's inaction towards environmental issues and reported on this on his channels. In 2015, he successful challenged the Hanoi People's Council's plan to fell 6700 trees in the city. In 2016, Tuyến protested waste materials that were being discharged into the sea off Hà Tĩnh by the Taiwanese-owned Formosa Ha Tinh Steel, which had caused the 2016 Vietnam marine life disaster.

2024 arrest In 2023, Tuyến was interviewed by police about videos he had posted several years earlier on his Anh Chí Râu Đen channel. He was subsequently banned from leaving Vietnam in January 2024 due to an ongoing "security agency investigation". On 28 February, Tuyến was invited to an interview with officers from the Hanoi Police, but did not attend due to feeling unwell.

Response Human Rights Watch criticised Tuyến 's arrest, and the wider crackdown on activists by the Vietnamese government, pointing out that they had occurred just days after the country announced its candidacy for a second term on the United Nations Human Rights Council. He worked as a Vietnamese teacher, as well as a translator and editor for Thế Giới Publishers.