international news _ Jonty Skrufff _ 9th June 2005
Vietnam Declares War On Clubs
Vietnamese authorities banned all new nightclubs and bars and arrested
hundreds of clubbers attending a Hanoi club this week, as part of an
escalating crackdown against 'social evils'.
According to Reuters, cops detained over 200 clubbers on charges of using
drugs following the raid as well as 26 staff members after they found
ecstasy and speed at the unnamed club in downtown Hanoi.
The anti-nightclub purge comes three years after Britain's Foreign Office
specifically warned travellers against using drugs before visiting the South
East Asian backpacking destination since, like Thailand and the United Arab
Emirates, testing positive is a serious criminal offence punishable by jail.
According to civil right group Human Rights Watch (HRW), conditions inside
jails in Vietnam remain 'extremely harsh' with violence endemic throughout
the system.
"Human Rights Watch received reports of the use of shackles and solitary
confinement in cramped, dark cells, and the beating, kicking, and use of
electric shock batons on detainees by police officers," HRW reported in
2002. "Police officers routinely arrested and detained suspects without
written warrants, and suspects were often held in detention for as long as a
year without being formally charged or tried."
Canadian drug dealer Randy Sachs, 26, received a 16 year sentence for
ecstasy offences last October, prompting his mother to declare him dead.
"I'm experiencing a mourning period as if he passed away," she told
Canada.com, "It would be easier on the family if he did. I hate to say it.
It would be easier on him, too," she added.
(Jonty Skrufff/Skrufff.com)
Related Link
Vietnamese Mennonite Evangelist Nguyen Van Phuong on Vietnam prison conditions (2004): "I was forced by gangs to do their laundry, and clean the cell. Life was constantly full of fear and hardship. I was given only one litre of water a day to drink and for all other personal uses . . .')
