Freed Viet activist home in S.J.

INTENSE CAMPAIGN PERSUADES HANOI TO DEPORT DEMOCRACY CAMPAIGNER

By K. Oanh Ha

Mercury News

Maria J. Avila / Mercury News

Tien DoBui, of San Jose, helps escort husband Cong Thanh Do, of San Jose, through the international arrivals gate at San Francisco International Airport Thursday September 21, 2006. Do, a pro-democracy activist, was released from a Vietnamese jail

A Vietnamese-American democracy activist arrested last month in Vietnam on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the communist government was welcomed home by a throng of supporters and his San Jose family Thursday night at San Francisco International Airport.

As supporters of Cong Thanh Do cheered wildly, his wife ran to him and sank to her knees, hugging his legs. Do, visibly weak, was held up by his wife and son as they were quickly escorted out of the airport.

Supporters hailed him as a patriot. ``It's a very happy moment for the family and the community,'' said Trang Do, a former political prisoner in Vietnam. ``I don't know him but I wanted to be here to support him.''

Vietnam deported Do early Thursday morning after an intense media and diplomatic campaign in which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and congressional, state and local officials called for his release.

Immediately after landing, he was taken to O'Connor Hospital for a checkup. Do, 47, has been on a hunger strike since Sept. 1, sipping only water and milk, according to his wife, Tien Jane Dobui.

She awoke to her husband's voice at 3 a.m. Thursday. She hadn't seen or spoken to him since his arrest Aug. 14 while vacationing with her and their 9-year-old son in central Vietnam. The call was brief. He cried.

``He sounded tired and weak,'' said Dobui, who spoke to her husband before his plane took off from Ho Chi Minh City. The Vietnamese government had ushered him straight from a prison in the city to the airport, he told her. ``He just wanted to come home.''

Speaking at a press conference Thursday, Dobui, her two college-age children and 10-year-old son looked tired. But they were all smiles. The family, which mobilized an international media campaign and launched an online petition, said the experience had brought them closer.

``Now we know how to fight, how to work together,'' said daughter Bien Dobui, 21.

The Vietnamese government detained Do for more than a month without charging him with a crime. Earlier this week, the newspaper of the Communist Party reported that he had been arrested for allegedly plotting an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City.

Do, an engineer at Applied Materials, led a secret life under the pseudonym Tran Nam. Using the pen name, he signed up as a member of a banned, underground political party in Vietnam agitating for human rights and a multiparty system there. He wrote online essays and was a regular source for human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. His family members said they were stunned to learn of his activities after his arrest.

Do was arrested along with two other members of the opposition group, the People's Democratic Party of Vietnam. The government newspaper reported that the three established a ``reactionary organization aimed at overthrowing Vietnam's government.'' Vietnamese police accused them of disseminating pamphlets in Ho Chi Minh City and other provinces urging an end to the one-party system ruled by the Communist Party.

U.S. Embassy officials in Vietnam have said they had no evidence linking Do to a terrorist plot and supported his release. His family and supporters say Vietnam detained him for his efforts online as a democracy activist.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, spearheaded the effort to win Do's freedom. She lobbied other congressional leaders and the State Department, urging that Congress delay passage of a key economic agreement with Vietnam until it released Do. A long list of politicians joined the call to free Do, including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California.

``I am so happy that Cong Thanh Do is finally able to rejoin his family in San Jose,'' Lofgren said in a statement. The family ``has been anxiously waiting for his safe release for many weeks, and today I share their excitement and relief.''

Do and his wife fled Vietnam by boat in 1981, and arrived the following year in the United States as refugees. They have since visited Vietnam, where they still have relatives. The family moved to the Bay Area in 1997.

A spokesman for the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington said it had not received any information about Do's deportation from Hanoi. In Vietnam, state-run television broadcast pictures of Do checking in at the Ho Chi Minh City airport.

In San Jose, Jane Dobui was looking forward to serving her husband his favorite meal -- chicken noodle soup.

Contact K. Oanh Ha

at kha@mercurynews.com or (408) 278-3457.