Bay immigrants call defendant a selfless freedom fighter
The federal trial of a Vietnamese refugee arrested during a demonstration in San Francisco against the Hanoi government last year has caused a furor among many members of the Bay Area's Vietnamese immigrant community.
Thousands have signed petitions calling for the release of Ngoc Hanh Nguyen, 46, who was arrested Dec. 13, 2001, on charges of attempted arson, conspiracy, terrorism, resisting arrest and endangering a foreign dignitary after she allegedly tried to turn herself into a human torch during a speech by Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
At least 100 demonstrators protested the charges against Ngoc Hanh when her trial began Monday, and dozens have packed the courtroom each day since then.
Vietnamese Americans who are strongly anti-communist deny that Ngoc Hanh is a terrorist. Instead, they describe her as a freedom fighter who was only trying to raise public awareness of human rights violations in her former homeland.
"By trying to set fire to her body, she was trying to start a flame of freedom for the Vietnamese people against the communists," said Ky Ngo, an adviser for the San Jose-based Vietnamese American Community of Northern California.
"She did not intend to do a criminal act," he said. "What she did she did for freedom for the 18 million Vietnamese in Vietnam, and to show that 58,000 American soldiers did not die in vain."
Support for Ngoc Hanh has been particularly strong among older Vietnamese who fought in the war or endured hardships under the communist postwar government before fleeing to the United States. For many of them, the war has never really ended.
Federal prosecutors argue that Ngoc Hanh's actions endangered the deputy prime minister and others present.
"She obviously posed a threat to the individuals that were seated around," State Department agent Orlando Velasquez told the jury.
Ngoc Hanh's attorneys argue that her act was symbolic and that she intended no harm to others.
Ngoc Hanh fled her native country in 1989 after serving six years in a Vietnamese prison for an earlier attempt to leave.
Ngoc Hanh, who now lives with her husband and children in France, allegedly doused herself with gasoline and tried to light herself on fire during the Vietnamese official's appearance. She has been held without bail since her arrest last year and could be sentenced up to five years in prison if convicted.
An associate who participated in the protest at the hotel, Cuong Ahn Pham, 53, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of harassing a foreign official in May and has been sent back to France.
Ngoc Hanh was convicted of an attempt to firebomb the Vietnamese Consulate in Paris with a Molotov cocktail two years ago and was forced to undergo mental health treatment. The Vietnamese government has called the protest in December an act of terrorism.
As she sat in the San Francisco courtroom of U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton this week, Ngoc Hanh looked more like a Vietnamese studies instructor than a terrorist. A short, slightly built woman with a pixie haircut, dressed in traditional Vietnamese ao dai -- a long, high-collared silk tunic worn over trousers -- she listened intently through a headset to a translation of the testimony against her.
During testimony, prosecution witnesses said Ngoc Hanh and Pham entered the ballroom of the Marriott on Dec. 13 during a speech by the deputy prime minister. Both of them smelled strongly of gasoline and while the speech continued, Ngoc Hanh strode to the front of the auditorium, drew a container of gas from a bag she was carrying and tried to ignite herself, several witnesses said. She was stopped by security personnel who rushed to intercept her.
Ngoc Hanh's arrest and prosecution has drawn close scrutiny from many members of the Vietnamese immigrant community from the very beginning.
Every day this week, dozens of Ngoc Hanh's elderly supporters packed the courtroom to watch her trial, many of them wearing American flag pins and buttons, patches and shawls bearing the yellow field and three red stripes of the old Vietnam Republic flag.
"Her name is a well-known name in the Vietnamese community," said Ky, who has helped organize support for Ngoc Hanh among local immigrants. "She is known as the only Vietnamese freedom fighter willing to sacrifice her career, family and life for the cause of freedom."
However, Ngoc Hanh's case is not a matter of universal concern among Vietnamese immigrants. A spokesman for Nguoi Viet, a Vietnamese language daily newspaper with 18,000 readers published in the "Little Saigon" community of Westminster, Orange County, said the paper was unaware of her case and had published nothing about it.
E-mail Bill Wallace at bwallace@sfchronicle.com
SAN FRANCISCO -- A jury trial began in federal court here Tuesday for a woman accused of trying to assault Vietnam's deputy prime minister at a San Francisco business meeting.
The defendant, a Vietnamese citizen who lives in France, claims she was trying to set herself aflame to protest the Vietnam government, her attorneys told jurors in U.S. District Court. Ngoc Hanh Dang Nguyen, 46, is accused of attempting violence on Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dzung, attempted arson and other counts as the official addressed business leaders at the Marriott Hotel here last year.
Prosecutors say on Dec. 13, when the prime minister was speaking at the hotel ballroom, Ngoc Hanh entered carrying a black satchel and reeked of gasoline. They said she walked to the front of the room, opened the bag containing a jug of gasoline and a torch. As she struggled to light the gas-soaked torches with a lighter, authorities tackled her.
"She obviously posed a threat to the individuals that were seated around," State Department agent Orlando Velasquez testified.
Wearing traditional Vietnamese clothing, the defendant listened to testimony via an interpreter in a heavily guarded courtroom requiring onlookers to go through two metal detectors. About two dozen people watched from the gallery.
On Monday, during jury selection, more than 100 people protested Ngoc Hanh's prosecution outside the courthouse.
Ngoc Hanh became a hero to some Vietnamese anti-Communists two years ago, after she tried to set herself ablaze in front the Vietnamese Embassy in Paris to protest Communist-ruled Vietnam.
Four months later, she threw a Molotov cocktail at the Vietnamese Embassy in London. She pleaded guilty to an arson charge and received mental health treatment as her sentence.
Arrested with Ngoc Hanh during the Dec. 13 incident in San Francisco was Cuong Ahn Pham, a French citizen. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of attempting to threaten or harass a foreign official and was sentenced to four months in prison.
The trial of Ngoc Hanh continues this week. She faces at least five years in prison if convicted on all charges. She is being held without bail.
The case is United States v. Ngoc Hanh, 01-0485.
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