(b. 1942), Vietnamese dissident. Since 1971, when he returned to Vietnam following the completion of his doctorate in education from Florida State University, Hoat has been a leading dissident intellectual in Vietnam. Hoat was assistant chancellor of Van Hanh University, a private Buddhist university in Saigon, where he became active in the Buddhist peace movement. On 29 August 1976, following reunification of the country and the closure of all private universities, Hoat was arrested for his "ties" to the United States and imprisoned for twelve years. Following his release on 9 February 1988 he began to coedit Freedom Forum, an underground newspaper, published between January and November 1990, that called for democracy, an end to the Communist Party's monopoly of power, and religious and press freedoms. He and six others were arrested on 17 November 1990 for the crime of "attempting to overthrow the people's government." Following a closed-door trial, on 29 March 1993, Hoat was sentenced to twenty years in prison. His case attracted much attention from the international human rights community, including Amnesty International and PEN, as well as the U.S. government. He was released in September 1998 in a presidential amnesty and forced into exile in the United States. He has been the recipient of numerous prizes, including the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and the Golden Pen of Freedom Award.
Further Reading
Abuza, Zachary. (2001) Renovating Vietnamese Politics in theEra of Doi Moi. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
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