Mother of Vietnamese blogger ‘self-immolates’

HANOI, Vietnam - Agence France-Presse

Dang Thi Kim Lieng, 43, who has died after setting herself on fire, reportedly in a protest ahead of her daughter’s trial for propaganda against Vietnam. AFP photo

The mother of a prominent Vietnamese blogger has died after setting herself on fire ahead of her daughter’s trial for propaganda against the Communist state, sources close to the family said July 30.

“Her wounds were very serious and she died on the way to the hospital,” Dinh Huu Thoai, a priest close to the family of Ta Phong Tan who is due in court in Ho Chi Minh City next week alongside two other bloggers, told.

Tan’s mother, Dang Thi Kim Lieng, set herself ablaze early July 30, according to Catholic activists and lawyers whose accounts were corroborated by reports on dissident blogs and the BBC’s Vietnamese-language service.

The 64-year-old is reported to have set fire to herself in front of the offices of the People’s Committee of Bac Lieu, the local authorities in Tan’s native province, according the Chuacuuthe Catholic blog.

“She was very much worried about her daughter... she was very worried about her daughter’s trial... she was worried she would never see her daughter again,” Catholic activist Le Quoc Quan said.

Tan, a 43-year-old Catholic former policewoman, was arrested on September 5, 2011 and has been held in detention since. Bloggers are accused of “distorting the truth, denigrating the party and state” by posting hundreds of political articles on the banned website “Free Journalists Club” of Vietnam, as well as writing on their own blogs.