Mother Mushroom

In this Vietnamese name, the surname is Nguyễn. In accordance with Vietnamese custom, this person should be referred to by the given name, Quỳnh.
Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh
Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh at the Committee To Protect Journalists' International Press Freedom Awards 2018
Born1979 (age 45–46)
Khánh Hòa, Vietnam
Occupationsblogger, political activist
OrganizationNetwork of Vietnamese Bloggers
Known forhuman rights activism
AwardsHellman-Hammett award 2010[1]
Civil Rights Defender of the Year (2015)[2]

Mother Mushroom (Vietnamese: Mẹ Nấm; born 1979 in Khánh Hòa, Vietnam) is the pen name of the Vietnamese blogger and dissident, Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh.[3] Mushroom or Nấm in Vietnamese is the name of her daughter. She first used the pen name in her popular blog "Mẹ Nấm".

After having her first child, nicknamed "Nấm" (mushroom), Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh joined several parenting fora using Mẹ Nấm (Mother Mushroom) as her pen name, primarily to exchange parenting tips with others. Later on, her blogs developed to cover social issues.

Quỳnh says her motive for blogging is very simple: "I don't want my children to struggle and have to do what I'm doing right now."

Blogging and arrests

Quỳnh writes blogs under the pseudonym Mẹ Nấm (Mother Mushroom) and has openly criticised the Vietnamese government over its human rights violations and corruption. She began blogging in early 2006 when she visited a hospital and witnessed many poor people in the hot sun desperately waiting for treatment, but ignored because they lacked money to bribe hospital officials.[2]

In 2012, Quỳnh was one of the first interns of the Vietnamese Overseas Initiative for Conscience Empowerment.[4]

In 2013 she co-founded the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers with Phạm Đoan Trang.[5]

2009 arrest

Quỳnh was first arrested in 2009 for blogging about government land confiscations related to a Chinese-backed bauxite mine and for printing T-shirts opposing the bauxite project. She was released nine days later, after she promised to close the blog.[6][7]

2013 arrests

On 21 May 2013, Quỳnh and fellow blogger Binh Nhì Nguyễn Tiến Nam were arrested and interrogated for several hours by the Khánh Hòa provincial police after publicly distributing copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights alongside balloons reading "quyền của con người phải được tôn trọng" (lit. 'human rights must be respected').[8] On 15 December 2023, Quỳnh was detained at an airport and had her passport confiscated while attempting to fly to Bangkok, Thailand to meet with a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.[9]

2014 arrest

On 19 April 2014, Quỳnh was arrested alongside Paulo Thành Nguyễn and Trịnh Kim Tiến by police in Nha Trang while preparing to give a talk on the United Nations Convention Against Torture.[10] Quỳnh was accused of "insulting and discrediting the People's Public Security of Vietnam" following social media posts made ahead of the talk in which she presented cases of 31 people who had died while in police custody in Vietnam.[11]

2015 arrests

On 28 March 2015, Quỳnh was arrested in Nha Trang while preparing to travel to Hanoi to present a petition at the 132nd session of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.[12] She was arrested again on 25 July while taking part in a hunger strike in support of imprisoned activists Nguyễn Ngọc Già, Bùi Thị Minh Hằng and Trần Huỳnh Duy Thức.[13]

2016 arrest

On 10 October 2016, Mother Mushroom was arrested while trying to visit an imprisoned political activist.[14] The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that she was arrested in Khánh Hòa and charged with crimes under Article 88 of Vietnam's Penal Code, which prohibits "conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam."[15]

Reactions

The United States, the European Union and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights demanded Mother Mushroom's release and stated that the government's arrest of her violated international human rights norms, as well as Vietnam's domestic laws on human rights.[3][16] Ted Osius, the United States Ambassador to Vietnam said he was "deeply concerned" about the Vietnamese government's detention of activists and stated: "This trend threatens to overshadow Vietnam's progress on human rights."[16]

Bärbel Kofler, the Human Rights Commissioner for the German Federal Government, issued a statement on 11 October on the arrest: "... this would be another serious violation of the human rights principles and international rules that Viet Nam has made a commitment to uphold."[17]

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a news release: "Article 88 effectively makes it a crime for any Vietnamese citizen to enjoy the fundamental freedom to express an opinion, to discuss or to question the Government and its policies. The overly broad, ill-defined scope of this law makes it all too easy to quash any kind of dissenting views and to arbitrarily detain individuals who dare to criticize Government policies."[15]

2017 sentencing

On 29 June 2017, she was sentenced to 10 years of jail by a court in Khánh Hòa Province after being found guilty of publishing propaganda against the state.[18][19]

Exile

On 17 October 2018, she was released from prison and exiled.[20] She and her family were granted political asylum in the United States.[21][22]

From 2019 to 2023, she wrote for the Vietnamese website Tiếng Dân.[23]

Awards

  • Human Rights Watch, Hellman/Hammett grant program recipient (2010)[24]
  • Civil Rights Defenders, Defender of the Year (2015)[2] Speaking with RFA's Vietnamese Service after she won the award, she said: "I still wish I did not have to receive such awards, because I live in an authoritarian country and I got the awards for fighting efforts." [25]
  • International Women of Courage Award (2017).[26]
  • International Press Freedom Award (2018)[27]
  • Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation’s Dissident Human Rights Award (2019)[26]

References

  1. ^ Việt Nam: Các Nhà văn được Vinh danh vì Dấn thân cho Tự do Ngôn luận, HRW, 4.08.2010
  2. ^ a b c "Civil Rights Defender of the Year 2015 – Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh". Civil Rights Defenders. 11 October 2016. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
  3. ^ a b Mike Ives (12 October 2016). "Vietnam Arrests Mother Mushroom, a Top Blogger, for Criticizing Government". New York Times.
  4. ^ "'Mẹ Vắng Nhà' - phim bị cấm chiếu ở Việt Nam sẽ ra mắt tại báo Người Việt". Người Việt (in Vietnamese). 25 July 2018. Archived from the original on 14 March 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
  5. ^ The 88 Project website, Affiliation: Network of Vietnamese Bloggers
  6. ^ Alyssa Strickland & Bita Eghbali, Vietnam's 'mother-mushroom' blogger fears arrest, Global Journalist, Missouri School of Journalism (November 10, 2014).
  7. ^ "Blogger 'Mẹ Nấm' được trả tự do". BBC. 12 September 2009. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  8. ^ "Bị bắt vì phân phát Tuyên ngôn Nhân quyền". RFA (in Vietnamese). 21 May 2013. Archived from the original on 3 August 2025. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
  9. ^ Kính, Hòa (15 December 2013). "Nhiều bloggers Việt Nam bị cấm xuất cảnh". RFA (in Vietnamese). Archived from the original on 3 August 2025. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
  10. ^ Mặc, Lâm (19 April 2014). "Cà phê nhân quyền Nha Trang: 3 blogger bị bắt". RFA (in Vietnamese). Archived from the original on 6 June 2025. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
  11. ^ "Facebooker Mẹ Nấm bị bắt với cáo buộc chống phá Nhà nước". VN Express (in Vietnamese). 10 October 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
  12. ^ Mặc, Lâm (18 March 2015). "Công an bắt Blogger Mẹ Nấm, nhiều người khác bị bao vây tại nhà". RFA (in Vietnamese). Archived from the original on 8 June 2025. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
  13. ^ "VN 'trấn áp' người 'tuyệt thực toàn cầu'". BBC News Tiếng Việt (in Vietnamese). 27 July 2015. Archived from the original on 20 January 2025. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
  14. ^ "Prominent blogger 'Mother Mushroom' detained in Vietnam". Committee to Protect Journalists. 11 October 2016.
  15. ^ a b UN Human Rights Chief urges Viet Nam to halt crackdown on bloggers and rights defenders (press release), Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (October 14, 2016).
  16. ^ a b Divya Kishore (12 October 2016). "US and EU ask Vietnam to free prominent blogger Mother Mushroom arrested for criticising government". International Business Times.
  17. ^ "Human Rights Commissioner Bärbel Kofler on the arrest of popular Vietnamese blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh". German Federal Foreign Office. 11 October 2016.
  18. ^ "'Mother Mushroom': Top Vietnamese blogger jailed for 10 years". BBC News. 29 June 2017.
  19. ^ "Vietnamese Catholic blogger sentenced to 10 years in jail - UCA News".
  20. ^ "'Viet Nam: blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh released into exile". PEN International. 24 October 2018.
  21. ^ ABC News website, Mother Mushroom: high-profile Vietnamese blogger released from jail, bound for US, article by Erin Handley dated October 18, 2018
  22. ^ Asia News website, Hanoi, free, but forced to exile the famous Catholic blogger "Mother Mushroom", article dated October 18, 2018
  23. ^ Tiếng Dân website, Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh
  24. ^ Việt Nam: Các Nhà văn được Vinh danh vì Dấn thân cho Tự do Ngôn luận, Human Rights Watch (August 4, 2010).
  25. ^ "Civil Rights Defender of the Year 2015 – Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh". Radio Free Asia. 14 April 2015.
  26. ^ a b Victims of Communism website, Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh (Mother Mushroom)
  27. ^ Voice of America website, ‘Mother Mushroom’ to Receive Press Freedom Award, article by Hai Do and Anna Matteo dated November 15, 2018
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