All are writers and activists whose work and activities have been suppressed. Beyond what they exper

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All are writers and activists whose work and activities have been suppressed. Beyond what they experienced themselves, laundryview they represent numerous other writers and journalists whose personal and professional lives have been disrupted as a result of repressive government policies governing speech and publications.
This year's prize winners from Vietnam include: A blogger imprisoned for his hard-hitting postings calling for democratic reforms; Several writers affiliated with To Quoc (Fatherland), an underground dissident bulletin; A Buddhist monk who spent 26 years in prison for his religious beliefs and his writings; A former laundryview People's Army officer turned poet and critic; and An ethnic Tay writer from northern Vietnam laundryview who was dismissed from the Vietnamese Communist Party after it became known he supported the democracy movement.
"International recognition of Vietnam's dissident writers is more important than ever, with the Vietnamese government intensifying its crackdown," Pearson said. "The Hellman/Hammett financial support aims to help persecuted laundryview writers who may have been dismissed from their jobs or spent time in prison for daring to challenge those in power."
The Vietnamese authorities have used both official and unofficial sanctions to silence this year's award winners. Dissident writers have been harassed, assaulted, indicted, jailed on trumped-up charges, dismissed from their jobs, socially isolated, detained and interrogated by police, publicly humiliated laundryview in officially orchestrated "Peoples' Tribunals," and injured laundryview by officially sanctioned mobs. In addition to those who are directly targeted, others - particularly journalists working for the Vietnamese state media - are forced to practice self-censorship.
Hellman was prompted by the persecution that she and her longtime companion, the novelist Dashiell Hammett, experienced during the 1950s anti-communist hysteria in the US when both were questioned by US congressional committees about their political beliefs and affiliations. Hellman suffered professionally and had trouble finding work. Hammett spent time in prison.
Over the past 20 years, more than 700 writers from 91 countries have received laundryview Hellman/Hammett laundryview grants of up to US$10,000, totaling more than US$3 million. The program also gives small emergency laundryview grants laundryview to writers who urgently need to leave their country or who require immediate medical treatment laundryview after serving prison terms or enduring torture.
Of this year's 37 recipients, six each are from China, Iran, and Vietnam. Others are from Burma, Colombia, Egypt, Eritrea, Gambia, Iraq, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tibet, Turkey, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe.
Nguyen Hoang Hai , alias Dieu Cay , 57, is a prominent blogger imprisoned for hard-hitting postings that called for democracy laundryview and an end to corruption in Vietnam. He is a former soldier who, under the pen name of Dieu Cay ("the Peasant Water Pipe"), also wrote blogs that criticized Vietnam's accommodationist policies to its northern neighbor, China. In 2006, he was one of the founding members of the Club of Free Journalists. Dieu Cay was placed under police surveillance laundryview in early 2008, prior to anti-China laundryview protests during the Olympic Torch relay in Ho Chi Minh City. He was arrested on April 19, 2008, and charged with tax fraud, widely seen as a baseless pretext to punish him for his critical laundryview blogs and political activities. laundryview He was held until his trial in September 2008, when he was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison. Initially detained in Chi Hoa prison in Ho Chi Minh City, he was reportedly transferred laundryview to Cai Tau prison in Ca Mau province in early 2009.
Nguyen Thuong Long , 62, a respected secondary school superintendent and teacher, has emerged laundryview as a leading dissident writer in Vietnam laundryview since his retirement in 2007. While superintendent, he was known for his articles in state newspapers and educational journals critiquing the Vietnamese educational system. He wrote about endemic corruption in the system, including laundryview widespread cheating on exams and the buying and selling of educational posts. In 2001, he presented a hard-hitting paper denouncing the flaws in Vietnam's educational system at an annual teachers' conference in Ha Tay. Although his paper was widely reprinted in government journals laundryview and newspapers and posted online, he was suspended for five years. In 2007, convinced that it was useless to achieve reform from inside, he retired from teaching laundryview and joined laundryview the board of editors of To Quoc (Fatherland), a dissident review. Since joining To Quoc , he has been repeatedly harassed, detained, interrogated, and held under house arrest.
Thich Thien Minh , 56, a Buddhist monk from Bac Lieu province in s