Ta Phong Tan received a hero’s welcome.
After years of abuse in prison, several hunger strikes that left her weak, and learning while inside a cell in 2012 that her mother had set herself on fire to protest her arrest, Ta was finally a free woman.
When the blogger and political prisoner came around the bend and into view at LAX’s international terminal late Saturday evening, her longtime colleague Hai Van Nguyen, also known as Dieu Cay, and a crowd of Vietnamese media rushed past the “authorized personnel only” sign to hug her, shake her hand and snap photos with her.
Ta, 47, who had been in prison since 2011 for what the Vietnamese Communist Party called anti-state propaganda, was released Saturday morning, escorted by about 50 party members to the airport and put on a plane headed to Los Angeles.
She was the second political prisoner to be released and sent to the United States in less than a year. Nguyen, who helped Ta co-found the Free Journalists Club, came to the U.S. in October after spending several years in prison; he now lives in Westminster.
“I will always fight for the people of Vietnam,” Ta told a group of Vietnamese media, which was shared through a translator. “All I’m asking is to give back basic human rights to the people.”
Vietnam has a porous human rights record, with the Committee to Protect Journalists calling the communist nation the fifth worst jailer of journalists in the world. It still has more than a dozen journalists behind bars, according to the committee.
Ta was sentenced to a 10-year prison term in 2012 and, according to news reports, suffered abuse from guards – perhaps worse than others because she is a former police officer. Human Rights Watch, the U.S. State Department and Little Saigon activists had long advocated for her release.
The State Department did not provide insight on why Ta was released, but did say she had asked in a previous conversation to come to the U.S. if she were released and that “we welcome the decision by Vietnamese authorities to release (her).”
“We consistently have called for the release of Ta Phong Tan and other persons imprisoned in Vietnam for exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms,” a State Department official said. “We call on the government to release unconditionally all these prisoners and allow all Vietnamese to express their political views without fear of retribution.”
During her news conference at LAX, Ta at times seemed overwhelmed by the celebrity she has among those in Little Saigon.
Nguyen was the first to meet Ta, giving her a hug as she smiled. Soon, though, she was enveloped by a crowd of photographers and videographers. Cameras flashed. Reporters shouted over each other to ask questions. Ta wiped tears away from beneath her glasses.
As she and Nguyen pushed forward through the crowd, she would stop for a moment and raise her right arm in the air – inducing the crowd to chant in defiance of the Vietnamese government.
“They don’t let us do our work and they treat us badly,” Nguyen said through a translator. “The Vietnamese government needs to release many more prisoners instead of doing it drop by drop. But there’s still hope.”
Ta spent Saturday evening in Garden Grove, said Long Nguyen, vice chairman of the Vietnamese American Federation of Southern California. Ta is apparently in poor health, though it is unclear if it is from her many hunger strikes or something else.
The federation heard several days ago Ta may be released, but was told to keep it quiet until it was confirmed. The group learned of her release Saturday morning.
“We were relieved when we heard she was released,” he said, noting that the group is unsure where Ta will live permanently. “I hope we can get her to Little Saigon, so we can hear about human rights and her experience in prison.”
Ta said even though she has been exiled from her home, leaving behind a sister, she will continue to fight against the Communist Party until it begins respecting human rights.
Asked about her reaction when she learned her mother had died from burns when she set herself on fire in front of government offices, Ta said she used it to further bolster her resolve.
“I was devastated,” she said. “But my mom had always been a fighter. She lit herself where she was supposed to.
“I will never shed a tear in front of the Communists.”
Contact the writer: 714-704-3707 or chaire@ocregister.com
