Trần Thị Xuân
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Trần Thị Xuân (born 10 October 1976) is a Vietnamese environmental activist who was sentenced to nine years in prison due to her affiliation with Brotherhood for Democracy, a pro-democracy group in Vietnam.
Xuân was born into a Catholic family in Thạch Kim commune, Lộc Hà district, Hà Tĩnh province, the youngest of eight children.[1][2] She grew up in poverty and did not graduate high school, and worked for a time as a cleaner in Ho Chi Minh City before returning to Hà Tĩnh to care for her siblings' children.[2] She took part in local humanitarian activities through the Catholic church, including collecting waste to be recycled, donating money to the poor and elderly, and providing assistance to victims of natural disasters.[1][3]
Activism
Xuân first became known as an activist in 2016 when she became a vocal supporter for the rights of fisherman who had lost their livelihoods following the 2016 Vietnam marine life disaster in which Formosa Ha Tinh Steel, a local steel plant, illegally discharged toxic waste into the ocean. This caused an ecological disaster across Vietnam's central coast, including in her home province of Hà Tĩnh. She participated in protests against the plant's owner Formosa Plastics in Lộc Hà, and publicly called for compensation for victims.[1][4]
In May 2016, Xuân joined Brotherhood for Democracy, a pro-democracy group founded in April 2013 by Nguyễn Văn Đài and other human rights activists. The Vietnamese police's newspaper, Công an nhân dân, subsequently accused Xuân of using her personal Facebook account to share articles, photos and videos "with contents that oppose the Party and the State".[1]