"Born in 1942 in Hanoi, Dr. Nguyen Dan Que graduated Saigon University Medical School, and pursued research in Belgium, France and England. He returned to Vietnam in 1974 to teach endocrinology at the Saigon University Medical School in 1974 and practice at the Cho Ray Hospital in Saigon.
"Dr. Nguyen Dan Que was jailed without charge or trial from 1978 to 1988 for publicly demanding Vietnam's government respect human rights. During this time he was adopted as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.
"The Humanist Movement is an underground association dedicated to nonviolent advocacy of basic human rights and political and economic reforms, including free elections in Vietnam. The movement claims members throughout Vietnam, although Dr. Nguyen Dan Que is the only one who has consented to make his identity public. Since Dr. Nguyen Dan Que's arrest, the movement estimates as many as a thousand of its supporters have been detained in the 'anti-crime' campaigns precipitated through out the country by Decision 135... "
Source: Human Rights Watch/Asia Watch, "Vietnam:Repression of Dissent", March 4, 1991 Vol. # 3 Iss. # 8