THE authorities have detained a prominent climate activist for alleged tax evasion, the latest environmentalist to face such an accusation.
Hoang Thi Minh Hong, the founder of now-defunct NGO CHANGE, which aimed to tackle some of the country’s most urgent environmental issues, was taken into custody in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday.
“I can confirm Hong has been under temporary detention since May 31 with the accusation of tax evasion,” said her husband Hoang Vinh Nam.
Hong founded CHANGE in 2013, focusing on mobilising Vietnamese, particularly young people, to take action against pressing environmental issues, including climate change, the illegal wildlife trade and pollution.The 50-year-old has been widely recognised for her work, joining the Obama Foundation Scholars Program at Columbia University in New York in 2018 and listed by Forbes among the 50 most influential Vietnamese women in 2019.
She shut CHANGE late last year after Vietnam’s authoritarian government handed down prison terms for tax evasion to four environmental human rights defenders, Nguy Thi Khanh, Mai Phan Loi, Bach Hung Duong and Dang Dinh Bach. — AFP
