Vietnam has detaine🤡d the director of a think tank that works on energy issues in the country — the sixth expert working on en🅷vironmental and climate issues that authorities have taken into custody in the past two years, a rights group said on Wednesday.
Ngo Thi To Nhien, the executive director for Vietnam Initiative for Energy Transitioꦬn (VIET) was arrested on September 15, according to The 88 Project, a group that advocates f💃or freedom of expression in Vietnam.
Police also raided and searched the💃 offices of the think tank and interrogated staff members, it said.
It was unclear 🙈why Nhien was arrested. Police have said the earlier arres♊ts of other energy experts were on suspicion of tax evasion.
A person familiar with the situation who asked not to be further identified out of concern for their own safety confirmed that she had been d🐻etained. Police cou🧔ld not be reached for comment after business hours.
"Nhien's detention is significant as it signals that research on energy policy is 😼now off limits”, sai✱d Ben Swanton, of The 88 Project.
When she was arrested, Nhien was working wi🍌th the United Nations Development Programme to help implement the Just Energy Transition Partnership, or⭕ JETP — a deal designed to help the Southeast Asian nation phase out use of fossil fuels with USD 15.5 billion in support from the Group of Seven advanced economies, the advocacy group said.
The German government said in June that it was concerned by the earlier detention of a prominent environmental campaigner in Vietnam, warning that the JETP deal re🎃quires the involvement of civil society activists.
Nhien has worked in the pa𒆙st with other international organi𓄧sations like the World Bank, the European Commission and the United Nations.
Vietnam is one of a few remaining communist single-party states that tolerate no dissent꧟.
In 2022, Human Rights Watch said that more than 170 activists had been put under house arrest, blocked fro🐬m travelling or in some cases assaulted by agen🐈ts of the Vietnamese government in a little-noticed campaign to silence its critics.
