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Vietnam to put Tampa man on trial

He is accused of being a terrorist and part of a group plotting to undermine the government.

By DONG-PHUONG NGUYEN
Published November 3, 2006

TAMPA - Since February, the parents of Binh Le have quietly and tearfully prayed for his release after learning from American officials that he had been jailed in Vietnam during a trip to his birth country.

Then on Thursday, Le's father, Rang Van Le, found out that the communist regime is putting his son and six others on trial for terrorism and plotting to undermine the government.

"The communists, if they want to imprison anyone, they can," Rang Le, 76, said, during an interview Thursday evening conducted in Vietnamese. "They don't need proof or evidence or anything."

Le said the last time he spoke to his son, who is a U.S. citizen, was in the winter, but the telephone call was uneventful.

Binh Le, 31, is the youngest of the Le's six children. He lived with his parents in a South Tampa apartment but was hardly home because he traveled so much as a welder on ships.

He sent money home and called occasionally, but was quiet and never shared much, Rang Le said. But this much he knows: His son would never commit the crimes he is charged with.

"I know firsthand what the communist government is capable of, their torture tactics and their treatment of prisoners," said Rang Le, who was sent to a re-education camp for 10 years after the Vietnam War ended because he fought on the side of the South Vietnamese. "I am a victim of the communists. I would never allow my son to take part in anything that would put him in danger or put him jail."

According to Rang Le, he and his wife, Lan, immigrated to America in 1994 with their three sons, including Binh. They left behind two sons and daughter, who were already married.

The Les took English classes, and Binh Le found a job as a welder. A few years after coming to America, Binh Le went back to Vietnam to marry a girlfriend, Rang Le said. Red tape kept his daughter-in-law from coming to the United States, so the Les would take trips back to Vietnam to visit not only Binh Le's wife, but Le's other children and grandchildren.

When they learned that he had been jailed, the Les did not even know that their son was in Vietnam, he said.

"I got that telephone call, and that was it," Rang Le said. "I don't know where he is, when he's coming home or what is happening."

Rang Le said all he knows is what has been reported in the Vietnamese media about efforts to free one of the others. Thuong Nguyen "Cuc" Foshee, a Vietnamese-born naturalized U.S. citizen from Orlando, has been jailed since Sept. 8 while visiting Vietnam as a tourist. Her daughter, Orlando lawyer Liz McCausland, has been fighting for her mother's release through the Internet and political ties.

Sen. Mel Martinez also is seeking Foshee's release.

In addition to Foshee and Le, Lien Huynh of San Gabriel, Calif., three Vietnamese nationals and a U.S. resident will go on trial, although no additional details were released by a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi.

They are all accused of being connected to a California-based Government of Free Vietnam Group, considered by the Vietnamese government to be a terrorist organization. The Vietnamese government says they took part in failed plots to bomb the Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand and state facilities in Vietnam, including a statue of communist leader Ho Chi Minh.

"Since the day I learned he was in jail, I have cried so many tears," Rang Le said. "I am old and in bad health, and I do not know how much longer I have to live. I pray everyday to please give my son his freedom so that I can see him again."

Information from the Associated press was used in this report. Times Staff Writer Vanessa Gezari contributed to this report.

[Last modified November 3, 2006, 05:51:27]