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factories or sewing firms. Most of them were <br />brought in from isolated rural areas. 19 <br />4. Oppression against Activists Fighting <br />for Workers <br />Together with the monopoly of labor unions <br />and obstruction of strikes, the Vietnamese <br />government ruthlessly oppresses all <br />individuals and movements fighting for <br />workers' rights and /or trying to form <br />independent labor unions. Since 2006, along <br />with strikes in many places in the country, <br />especially in the South, many individuals <br />have come together to demand the <br />government to ameliorate the workers' life, <br />particularly to allow the formation of free <br />labor unions according to the International <br />Human Rights Law and in compliance with <br />international labor legal standards. Such <br />pioneer labor activists as Nguyen Khac <br />Toan, Cao Van Nham, Le Thi Cong Nhan, <br />Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, Tran Quoc Hien, <br />Doan Van Dien, Tran Thi Le Hang, Le Ba <br />Triet... have one after the other been arrested <br />and imprisoned for their alleged crime of <br />"anti -state propaganda" (Article 88) or <br />"attempting to overthrow the government" <br />(Article 79), of the 1999 Criminal Law. <br />Among those held and since then <br />mysteriously disappeared is Le Tri Tue, co- <br />founder of the Independent Labor Union, <br />who was kidnapped in Cambodia's capital of <br />Phnom Penh in May 2007 and secretly taken <br />back to Vietnam. <br />The suppression of the workers' rights <br />reached its highest point in 2010 with the <br />harsh sentences meted out to the following <br />three leading activists of the United <br />Workers- Farmers Organization: Nguyen <br />19 The Australian, "Child slavery bust in Vietnam with <br />Australian charity's help" <br />http: / /www.theaustralian.com.au /news /breaking- <br />news /ch i Id- slavery- bust -in- vietnam- with- australian- <br />chritys -help /story- fn3dxity- 1226154227881 <br />(accessed 29 Dec 2011) <br />Vietnam Human Rights Network * Annual Report 2011 <br />Hoang Quoc Hung (9 years in prison), Doan <br />Huy Chuong and Do Thi Minh Hanh (7 <br />years in prison each). As with other <br />dissidents, they were accused of "disturbing <br />the security and order in an attempt to <br />oppose the people's government" per Article <br />89 of the Criminal Law. <br />In addition to retaining the sentences against <br />the three leaders of the United Workers - <br />Farmers Organization in the final court trial <br />without defendant lawyers in Tra Vinh on 18 <br />March 2011, the government continues to <br />suppress and arrest those who dare to fight <br />for the workers' rights. Typically, there were <br />arrests made at two limited - liability <br />companies as Namyang in Bien Hoa at the <br />end of December 2010, and Chutex in the <br />Industrial Complex Song Than 2 in Di An <br />early in 2011. Besides, free -lance journalist <br />Le Thanh Tung was attacked by secret police <br />when he was interviewing workers on strike <br />at the industrial complex Quang Minh of the <br />Me Linh district outside of Hanoi on 15 <br />April 2011. <br />24 <br />