Summary In January 2021, during the 13th Communist Party of Vietnam Congress in Hanoi, state security agents put activists in the capital under house arrest for 10 days. These arrests were both arbitrary and unsurprising; Vietnamese authorities have long used extralegal detention as a tool against dissent during major political events. Among the activists placed under house arrest were Nguyen Thuy Hanh and her husband Huynh Ngoc Chenh. Said Nguyen Thuy Hanh: