Phan Thanh Hai

Phan Thanh Hải (born c. 1969 Though their trial was scheduled to begin in August, it was delayed indefinitely after Ta's mother Dang Thi Kim Lieng immolated herself in front of the government offices in Bac Lieu province in protest of the trial.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights criticized the arrests, stating its concern for "what appears to be increasingly limited space for freedom of expression in Viet Nam". In a July 2012 visit to Hanoi, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed concern for the detention of the three members of the Free Vietnamese Journalists' Club. Amnesty International described the three bloggers as prisoners of conscience, "detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression through their online writings", and urged their release. The International Federation for Human Rights and World Organisation Against Torture also released a joint statement calling on the Vietnamese government to release the three bloggers unconditionally. In 2011, Human Rights Watch awarded him a Hellman/Hammett Award for "writers who demonstrate courage and conviction in the face of political persecution". Prosecutors stated that the three had "distorted the truth about State and Party, created anxiety among citizens and supported schemes to overthrow the government", while the court found that they were "seriously affecting national security and the image of the country in the global arena."