Tran Hiep, a 50-year-old Vietnamese-Australian activist against human trafficking, has not been heard from by his wife, Chloe Dang, since 17 September, when he was due to land in Bangkok after a short trip to Phnom Penh. Vietnamese authorities have meanwhile detained three activists, including one Australian, with charges against them described as 'fabricated'.
Hiep had travelled to Cambodia to meet with human rights defenders, and was travelling with another activist, Nguyen Duc Thuan, who is also Vietnamese and holds a Norwegian passport. The two had gone to Cambodia to meet with Vietnamese activists for training. Hiep is a freelance IT specialist and founder of the Australian Alliance Against Human Trafficking.
His wife, Chloe Dang, 36, said from the airport in Bangkok before boarding a flight to Melbourne that she and the family were very worried about his safety. 'It has been 11 days and I am in the dark,' Dang said, adding that she did not know where he was or how he was. She said that looking after her husband's whereabouts had taken a psychological toll. Hiah deserves protection, she said, and hopes that the Australian government will continue to pressure Cambodia to conduct an investigation and establish where he is.
The Australian government said it was providing consular assistance and would continue to communicate directly with the family. The department said the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was providing consular assistance to the Australian family member reported missing in Cambodia. The Australian government confirmed that consular officials were in contact with Dang, but did not wish to comment further.
The Vietnamese government stated that the three detained had admitted to being members of Viet Tan, an organisation described by Hanoi as terrorist. Viet Tan stated that it 'strongly condemns the kidnapping of two of its members in Cambodia and the fabricated charges made by Vietnamese authorities to cover up the transnational repression'. It is not clear if the third person is a member of Viet Tan.
Viet Tan stated that its goal was 'to overcome dictatorship and build the foundations for a sustainable democracy' and that it was 'committed to a peaceful, non-violent struggle'. On its website, it stated that it was convinced that non-violent means were the most effective way to achieve maximum civic participation. The organisation called on Norwegian and Australian authorities to request access to Hiep and Thuan to 'ensure their health and access to necessary medication'.
Viet Tan stated that the two men had not intended to enter Vietnam and that the claim that they had entered the country illegally was 'an obvious lie' with which their kidnapping was being concealed. In particular, it was concerned, it said, that the police state was using the security apparatus to persecute activists and foreign nationals even outside the borders of Vietnam. Meeting, exchanging ideas and supporting human rights defenders, democratic activists and civil society was a peaceful form of advocating for the progress of freedom, democracy and human rights in Vietnam, it said.
Viet Tan had previously described the disappearance of the two men as disturbing, given previous cases in which Vietnamese dissidents had disappeared in neighbouring countries and then reappeared in detention in Vietnam. 'Their disappearance is not an ordinary case of a missing person,' it said, adding that both were long-time advocates for human rights.
Human Rights Watch had previously described Viet Tan as 'an opposition political party ... operating openly and legally in many countries, including Australia, but arbitrarily designated by Hanoi as 'terrorist''. Vietnam has stepped up its crackdown on dissent in recent years, with more than 55 activists arrested in 2025 under broad criminal laws. Human Rights Watch said on 18 September that more than 160 political prisoners were currently imprisoned in Vietnam, and that activists were exposed to 'police harassment, intimidation, surveillance and questioning on a daily basis'.
Civil society groups and UN human rights experts had warned several times of the growing cooperation between Vietnamese authorities and neighbouring governments in targeting advocates. The families of the missing men had submitted a petition to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
