VIETNAM: U.S. SENATOR TOM HARKIN PAYS RETURN VISIT TO "TIGER CAGE" PRISON CELLS WHOSE EXISTENCE HE DISCLOSED 25 YEARS AGO

Record ID: 258634

  • Title: VIETNAM: U.S. SENATOR TOM HARKIN PAYS RETURN VISIT TO "TIGER CAGE" PRISON CELLS WHOSE EXISTENCE HE DISCLOSED 25 YEARS AGO
  • Date: 4th July 1995
  • Summary: CON SON ISLAND AND HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM (JULY 4-5, 1995) (RTV -- ACCESS ALL) CON SON ISLAND (JULY 5, 1995) 1. SV TRAI PHU TUONG PRISON ENTRANCE 0.04 2. SV UNITED STATES (U.S.) SENATOR TOM HARKIN AND WIFE ARRIVING/ SECURITY/GROUP ENTERING BUILDING (3 SHOTS) 0.20 3. SLV VIEW ALONG PRISON CORRIDOR 0.23 4. SV HARKIN AND ENTOURAGE TOURING BUILDING HOUSING "TIGER CAGE" CELLS 0.29 5. TILT DOWN TO CAGE CELL SHOWING CARVED MODELS OF PRISONERS (2 SHOTS) 0.39 6. SV HARKIN WALKING DOWN CORRIDOR OF CELLS 0.48 7. SV FORMER PRISONER CAO NGUYEN LOI WHO TIPPED HARKIN OFF ABOUT PRISON SHOWING HARKIN CELL WHERE HE WAS HELD 0.56 8. SV LOI LYING DOWN IN CELL SHOWING HOW HE WAS SHACKLED 1.04 9. SV CARVED MODELS OF PRISONERS IN CELL 1.07 10.TOP VIEW THROUGH BARS OF HARKIN AND LOI IN CELL 1.13 11.SLV EXTERIOR PRISON WING 1.17 12.SCU HARKIN SPEAKING (ENGLISH) 1.29 13.SLV GRAVEYARD NEXT TO PRISON/ HARKIN LAYING FLOWERS/CU HARKIN WIFE (3 SHOTS) 1.40 13.SCU GRAVE OF PRISONER 1.47 14.SLV/SCU FORMER PRISONER THIEU THI DAO LEAVING GRAVEYARD/ SPEAKING (ENGLISH) (2 SHOTS) 2.14 (THIEU'S NECK BRACE IS A RESULT OF TORTURE SHE SUFFERED IN THE CAGES) HO CHI MINH CITY (JULY 4) 15.SV HARKIN AND WIFE LEAVING BUILDING 2.17 16.SV HARKIN HUGS LOI 2.26 17.SLV BANNER READING "A HEART TO HEART WELCOME TO SENATOR TOM HARKIN AND DELEGATION - A 25 YEAR REUNION OF FRIENDSHIP" 2.29 18.SV HARKIN HUGS DAO/ HARKINS WIPES TEARS FROM EYES (2 SHOTS) 2.47 19.SV/CU FORMER PRISONER BGUYEN PHI CHI (NOW BLIND) MEETING HARKIN HOLDING PHOTO OF HERSELF IN THE CAGE TAKEN BY HARKIN IN 1970 AND PUBLISHED ON MAGAZINE COVER. (3 SHOTS) 3.01 SEQUENCE 12 transcript: HARKIN : "WELL THIS IS A VERY EMOTIONAL RETURN FOR ME. AND ESPECIALLY TO COME BACK WITH PEOPLE WHO WERE PRISONERS HERE. WHEN I VISITED HERE 25 YEARS AGO I LOOKED DOWN ON THESE PEOPLE WHEN THEY WERE IN THESE CELLS." SEQUENCE 14 transcript: THIEU : "THE AMERICANS WHO COME BACK TO VIETNAM AS FRIENDS, MY PEOPLE WELCOME THEM. BUT IF THEY COME BACK TO MY COUNTRY LIKE THEAGGRESSORS IN THE OLD TIME OF COURSE WE MUST AGAIN STRUGGLE." Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 19th July 1995 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CON SON ISLAND AND HO CHI MINH, VIETNAM
  • City:
  • Country: Vietnam
  • Reuters ID: LVADXI8Y1SB08MSY5511BQXNX266
  • Story Text: United States (U.S.) Senator Tom Harkin paid an emotional return visit on Wednesday (July 5) to the former "tiger cage" prison cells in South Vietnam whose existence he disclosed to a shocked world 25 years ago.

    Harkin toured Trai Phu Tuong prison on Con Son Island where about 500 communists or dissidents were held in appalling conditions by the U.S.-backed former Saigon regime, which lost the Vietnam war in 1975.

    He broke the news of the cells' existence in 1970, when he first visited the island as a congressional staff aide after being tipped off by a former inmate, Cao Nguyen Loi.

    Harkin recalled that the prison was very quiet when he first walked in twenty years ago because prisoners believed they would be beaten if they talked. Gradually, they began speaking and asked Harkin to tell their story and get them released.

    As many as six prisoners were crammed inside the "tiger cages" -- cells 1.5 by 2.7 metres (five by nine feet). The cages have horizontal bars at first-floor level, through which guards used to throw water or, as a punishment, lime.

    The cages, which were originally built and used by the former French colonial regime, are now a museum.

    Former prisoner Thieu Thi Dao, who wears a neck brace as a result of torture endured in the "tiger cages", said the Vietnamese people now welcome Americans as long as they come as friends. But if they come as "aggressors", then the Vietnamese must "struggle" again.

    Loi, then a student, now a businessman, went round the cells on Wednesday with Harkin, who had an emotional reunion with former prisoners in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday night.


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