Amnesty International has published a new report which offers a rare sight into the treatment of prisoners of conscience in Viet Nam, who are routinely tortured, beaten and kept from their families.

The rights group interviewed 18 former prisoners of conscience who collectively spent over 77 years in prison for activism, questioning injustices in society or for their ethnicity and religious beliefs.

In the report, “Prisons within Prisons: Torture and ill-treatment of prisoners of conscience in Viet Nam”, those interviewed recount being beaten until they urinated blood, given electric shocks and confined in isolation for lengthy periods of time without access to family members or a lawyer.

The report also accuses Vietnamese officials of using prisoners known as ‘antennae’ who “work with the police or prison authorities, gathering information on other prisoners” in exchange for favourable treatment.

“Viet Nam ratified the UN Convention against Torture in 2015. This in itself is not enough. In order to meet its human rights obligations, the authorities must introduce reforms in line with international law and ensure accountability for torture and ill treatment,” said Rafendi Djamin, Amnesty International’s Director for South East Asia and the Pacific.

“Viet Nam’s authorities should seize the moment as the country’s amended penal and criminal procedures codes are being reviewed,” he said.

“Now is the time to make good on their international obligations, by bringing to book those responsible for torture and other ill-treatment, and ensuring this appalling practice ends.”

Amnesty has also urged the Australian Government to act on the abuse.

Vietnam, a one-party state, is regularly denounced by rights groups and Western governments for its intolerance of political dissent and systematic violations of freedom of religion.