The 10-year-old daughter of a jailed Vietnamese blogger, “Mother
Mushroom,” has appealed to U.S. First Lady Melania Trump to help win her
mother’s release ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to Vietnam
next month.
The handwritten letter, posted on Facebook on
Thursday, drew attention to Vietnam’s biggest crackdown on dissidents in
years before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in
November.
Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, 37, known as “Me Nam”
(Mother Mushroom), is one of Vietnam’s most prominent activists. She was
jailed for 10 years in June for publishing anti-state reports,
including one about deaths in police custody.
Her daughter Nguyen Bao Nguyen, nicknamed
“Mushroom,” referred to Trump’s upcoming visit to Vietnam and
the
“International Women of Courage Award” awarded by the First Lady to
Quynh in March, which drew an angry response from Hanoi.