Pham Minh Hoang, a mathematics lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City Polytechnic Institute, was arrested on August 13, 2010, on charges of participating in a banned pro-democracy opposition group, the Viet Tan. According to media reports, the arrest followed the interrogation two days earlier of Professor Hoang and his wife at a police station in Ho Chi Minh City, where he was told that he would be arrested if he did not confess to belonging to the Viet Tan. Scholars at Risk reported that Professor Hoang was taken to an undisclosed location, where he was held without access to family or his lawyer.

Professor Hoang was released from prison on January 13, 2012 after serving 17 months, and is now under house arrest for three years.