In Viet Nam there is little room for human rights defenders to act independently of the state. Those who seek to promote human rights are often perceived to be against the state and so are threatened, harassed and often imprisoned. Those who act to protect the rights of others also risk punishment as shown by the cases in this digest of Le Thi Cong Nhan and Nguyen Van Dai, two human rights lawyers, who have been branded as a threat and imprisoned by the authorities.
