Trần Thị Xuân

Trần Thị Xuân (born 10 October 1976) is a Vietnamese environmental activist who was sentenced to nine years in prison due to her affiliation with Brotherhood for Democracy, a pro-democracy group in Vietnam.

Personal life Xuân was born into a Catholic family in Thạch Kim commune, Lộc Hà district, Hà Tĩnh province, the youngest of eight children. She grew up in poverty and did not graduate high school, and worked for a time as a cleaner in Ho Chi Minh City before returning to Hà Tĩnh to care for her siblings' children.

Activism Xuân first became known as an activist in 2016 when she became a vocal supporter for the rights of fisherman who had lost their livelihoods following the 2016 Vietnam marine life disaster in which Formosa Ha Tinh Steel, a local steel plant, illegally discharged toxic waste into the ocean. This caused an ecological disaster across Vietnam's central coast, including in her home province of Hà Tĩnh. She participated in protests against the plant's owner Formosa Plastics in Lộc Hà, and publicly called for compensation for victims.

In May 2016, Xuân joined Brotherhood for Democracy, a pro-democracy group founded in April 2013 by Nguyễn Văn Đài and other human rights activists. The Vietnamese police's newspaper, Công an nhân dân, subsequently accused Xuân of using her personal Facebook account to share articles, photos and videos "with contents that oppose the Party and the State".

On 11 April 2018, Xuân's trial took place over one day at the People's Court of Hà Tĩnh Province, culminating in her receiving a nine-year prison sentence, to be followed by five years on probation. Xuân's trial occurred the day after a fellow Brotherhood for Democracy activist and the organisation's deputy leader, Nguyễn Văn Tuc, was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment.

In June 2018, the Human Rights Foundation submitted an individual complaint to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concerning Xuân and requesting that a formal investigation into her arrest, pre-trial detention, trial and conviction. In May 2019, the group found that Xuân was being arbitrarily detained and called for her immediate release.

In June 2022, Xuân's family reported that she was suffering from severe gout and receiving inadequate healthcare in prison. They had previously raised concerns in 2020 that she was suffering from coronary occlusion, which eventually led to authorities permitting her treatment at a local hospital; and that improper treatment for kidney disease had led to her experiencing fluid retention in 2021.