Van Kham Chau at a trial in Ho Chi Minh City in 2019 (Image: Nhan Huu Sang/VNA via AP)

Three years ago this month, Chau Van Kham left Australia for Vietnam. He never returned. The 72-year-old Australian was arrested within hours of entering the country. In 2019, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison for terrorism charges. Since his arrest, his family have never spoken to him. Limited visits from consular officials and Kham’s family in Vietnam were suspended last year amid a growing COVID outbreak in the country.

“We’re assured that things are happening, and that the government hasn’t forgotten him,” Kham’s lawyer Dan Phuong Nguyen tells Crikey. 

“But in light of any positivity, the fact that we’ve had no direct contact with him, and the last consular visit was last year, I really don’t know whether we can hold hope if we can ever see him again.”

Australians detained abroad

Chau is one of a handful of Australians detained abroad arbitrarily. In China, there’s Yang Hengjun, the writer and democracy advocate who was imprisoned the same week as Kham. Chinese-Australian news anchor Cheng Lei has been detained since September 2020, and later formally arrested on suspicion of supplying state secrets. She’s been forbidden from speaking on the phone to her children. 

Sean Turnell, an Australian economist, was arrested in Myanmar after the country’s military coup last February over allegations of violating the country’s official secrecy laws. Key details about the charges laid against him have not been made public, and embassy officials were kept out of the court during hearings.

Osama al-Hasani was extradited from Morocco to face charges in Saudi Arabia which he’d been cleared of by the courts years earlier. Al-Hasani is charged with offences related to stolen Range Rovers, but his lawyers say he was targeted because of his political views.

Then there’s Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, incarcerated at Belmarsh Prison since 2019 during interminable court proceedings related to attempts by the US government to extradite him.

But according to Human Rights Watch Australia Director Elaine Pearson, there’s an inconsistency in how different cases have been treated. Some capture public imagination, generate significant media attention, and are the subject of rightful condemnation from senior politicians. Others, like Kham, have fallen under the radar.

“I don’t think the Australian government is doing enough. I don’t know whether this case was raised when [Foreign Minister Marise] Payne visited Hanoi last,” she said.

“I think the matter needs to be raised both publicly and privately with the Vietnamese government. We’ve seen very strong statements on Yang Hengjun, but very few public statements from Payne. We need to see consistency here,” she said.

Australia and Vietnam held their 17th human rights dialogue last month. 

COVID fears, health concerns

Kham’s sudden arrest was linked to his membership of Viet Tan, a pro-democracy group that Hanoi considers a terrorist organisation. His trial was conducted largely behind closed doors; absent any real contact, his family are dependent on the promises of Vietnamese officials.

Last year, a spokesperson for the Vietnamese government said Kham’s right to healthcare and food were being met. Nguyen says he’s been double vaccinated, but with COVID cases in Vietnam high, his detention alongside 11 other inmates is a cause for concern.

Kham also suffers from a number of medical conditions, including glaucoma and kidney stones, and while officials have confirmed he’s been receiving medication sent from Australia by his wife Trang Chau, without any check-ups they don’t know whether his healthcare needs are being looked after.

Right now, Nguyen says his supporters have done all they can to pressure for his release. But his future remains in the hands of the Vietnamese government.

“It’s [Vietnamese] New Year soon, and the government usually issues a list of amnesties around this time. If he could be on that list, that’s what we’re hoping for,” she said.

“It’s a time of union, of reunion, of family getting together. It’s a time where we hope they can finally be reunited.”