Association to Protect Freedom of Religion, July 2017
PART 1: OVERVIEW ON RELIGION FREEDOM OF RELIGION IN VIETNAM IN APRIL-JUNE, 2017
Vietnam’s parliament passed the Law on Religion and Beliefs in November 2016 but religion clerks spoke out to criticize its shortcomings. On June 1, the Bishops’ Conference sent a joint letter to Vietnam’s highest legislative body National Assembly (NA) and its Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan to express opinions of Vietnam’s Catholic Church about the law.
In its letter dated June 1, the Bishops’ Conference underlines certain positive aspects of the law , such as the recognition of the right to religion of inmates in prisons and reform schools (Article 6), foreigners (Articles 8 and 47), and foreigners studying at Vietnamese religious institutions (Article 49).
The law also recognizes religious organizations approved by the appropriate state agency as non-commercial entities (Article 30).
Along with using controversial words, the law will allow the government to interfere in religious organizations, education and health.
The new Law on Religions and Beliefs, with its ambiguities and contradictions, will fuel the “system of having to ask and wait for authorities’ approval”. The law interferes with the internal affairs of religious communities and establishes tight controls over their activities. The government’s views about religion are inadequate.
The Bishops’ Conference said that ““The bill shows the inadequacy of the government’s views on religion and religious organizations. The authorities look to religions as purely political organizations, sometimes as an opposition force. Pastoral activities in the fields of charity, health and education are not adequately valued and pastoral activities are ostracized.”
Due to wrong treatment and unsympathic attitude with religions, the government used bias and controversial words while building the law to criticize the religions when the authorities dissatisfy and keep surveillance and monitor all religious activities or try to use religions as its tools.
At the point No. 5 of the letter, Bishops have responded directly to the government’s call to work for the country’s growth. “The government has invited religions to accompany the nation. We all agree to this, but we think that the concept of nation must be clearly distinguished from that of regime.”
“The history of the Vietnamese people in particular and the history of the world in general show that political regimes change over time, but the nation lasts forever.”
Accompanying the nation is to go together with the nation’s spiritual and cultural value including fighting against invaders to protect the country’s sovereignty, protest against dictatorship while share sympathy with each other.
Shortly after that, the Vietnam Inter-fair Council, a civil society consisting senior clerks of five religions to struggle for religious freedom and democracy issued a statement to support the stance of the Bishops’ Conference, saying its opinions show clearly that religion freedom is the basic human rights.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s authorities are boosting dissemination of the newly-approved Law on Religions and Beliefs nationwide. Realizing the government’s plan to implement the law according to the government’s Decision No. 306 dated March 8, 2017 of the prime minister. The Government Committee on Religions and its units in provinces and cities have organized many conferences to disseminate the law among local religious clerks with aim to complete the campaign by January 1, 2018.
Religious freedom is the basic right of people, however, Vietnam is considered as the country fails to ensure it. There are religious suppressions and a mechanism of having to ask and wait for authorities’ approval. As a result, a number of foreign embassies including those of the U.S., Australia, and the EU often voice about violations of religious freedom made by Vietnam’s state agencies.
PART 2: VIOLATIONS OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM MADE BY GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
2.1 Violations in April
First violation case: Catholic priest Phan Van Loi was barred from going out while visitors, including Bishop Hoang Duc Oanh harassed.
The incident happened at 9 AM of April 4. Priest Phan Van Loi was invited to take a lunch at Thien An Monastery but plainclothes agents blocked him at the gate of his private residence. Two monks from the monastery who came to pick him up were also barred from entering his house. After long conversation, the security officers agreed to allow the monks to visit the priest but continued to block him, not allowing him to go to the monastery.
On the afternoon of the same day, retired Bishop Micae Hoang Duc Oanh, former head of the Kon Tum Diocese who was visiting Thien An, wanted to visit priest Phan Van Loi. Bishop Oanh, accompanied by the priest-head of the Thien An Monastery, three monks and two staff of the Tin Mung Cho Nguoi Ngheo (Good News for the Poor) news agency, visited priest Phan Van Loi at his private house.
When the guests left, priest Loi wanted to go out to say goodbye to the guests, however, plainclothes agents forced him to come back to his house.
Outspoken priest Phan Van Loi has been de facto under house arrest in years. Many guests come to visit him have also been harassed.
Second violation case: Authorities in Quynh Luu district answered Catholic priest Dang Huu Nam about priests’ question about “demonstration right” but did not talk out the right of religious freedom.
On April 8, Catholic priest Dang Huu Nam received several letters from Nghe An province’s authorities responding to Catholic priests in Quynh Luu district, saying that:
- Priests wanting to hold Holly masses in churches outside of their areas need to get approval from the local authorities. Followers wanting to participate in Holly Masses in the churches outside of their areas also need to get permission from the local authorities.
- Priest Nguyen Dinh Thuc failed to get permission to conduct Holly Masses in Song Ngoc parish with participation of many followers from Phu Yen parish.
- Holly Masses conducted by priest Dang Huu Nam in Song Ngoc parish were not in line with the law.
Currently, Catholic priests in Quynh Luu district find difficulties in holding Holly Masses within the district, especially priest Dang Huu Nam and Nguyen Dinh Thuc, who were accompanying followers in peaceful demonstrations to demand Formosa Plastic Group to withdraw from Vietnam after causing the environmental disaster in the country’s central coast last year.
Third violation case: Authorities in Quynh Lam commune, Quynh Luu district, Nghe An province asked the leadership of the Catholic Church of Thuan Nghia parish to report religious activities during the Easter and the whole year 2017.
The communal authorities sent the request to the church on April 12, citing Article 24 of the government’s Decree 92 dated on November 8 on the implementation of the ordinance on religions and beliefs.
However, the request of the Quynh Lam commune’s authorities went against Article 24 on religious freedom of the country’s 2013 Constitution.
In April every year, the Catholic community holds numerous Holly Masses, including Holly Week and Easter.
The Thuan Nghia parish, the biggest parish in Vinh diocese, has over 10,800 followers. Song Ngoc parish with Head priest Gioan B. Nguyen Dinh Thuc and Phu Yen parish with Head priest Anton Dang Huu Nam belong to the Thuan Nghia parish.
Thuan Nghia parish often holds candle vigils for peace and justice, prisoners of conscience and environment.
Fourth violation case: Authorities in Nha Trang city deeply interfered regulations of Chinh Toa church.
On April 11, the Nha Trang-based Chinh Toa Church (Nui Church) issued a statement on visitors’ behaviors which bans visitors who are dressing impolitely to come to the church areas. The leadership said it welcomes all visitors to take part in its Holly Masses.
Shortly after that, the Nha Trang city’s People’s Committee summoned the church’s leadership to question why it does not allow Chinese tourists to visit the church and asked it to explain the statement.
Ms. Nguyen Lai, a local follower, said during the talks, the church’s leadership reaffirmed its regulations and its right to receive only those who are dressing and acting politely to the church’s areas.
Fifth Violation in Lao Cai: Authorities in Muong Khuong district disturbed Easter Holly Mass of local Catholic followers
The incident happened on April 17 as a dozen of strange men who self-described as local government officials broke in a local chapel in which a Catholic priest planned to carry out the Easter Holly Mass for about 100 local followers in Muong Khuong commune. Witnesses said the strange men spoke loudly and harassed followers and tried to arrest priest Phero Nguyen Dinh Thai of Lao Cai parish.
Followers, including female ones, blocked the men to prevent them from detaining the priest. They asked the men to show their personal documents and prove that they were state officials but the men refused.
Priest Giuse Nguyen Van Thanh, head of the Catholic Church in Lao Cai said he telephoned the leadership of Lao Cai province to ask for intervention. After that, the men withdrew so the priest and followers continued their religious activities as planned.
Muong Khuong district’s authorities explained the act by saying they did not receive information about the province’s permission to allow priests from Lao Cai to carry out Holly Masses for the local followers.
Priest Thanh said the local authorities failed to keep their words and intentionally harassed local followers.
“We have sent out petitions to the province’s authorities many times in the past few years and the province’s authorities agreed verbally to allow priests to come to Muong Khuong commune to conduct Holy Masses for followers in Ban Lau and Ban Xen villages,” he said.
He said the Muong Khuong authorities accept only Catholic community in Ban Xen. There are about 400 Catholic followers in the commune and they gather in private houses to pray. The local authorities have harassed Catholic followers in many years and the situation has not been approved although they commit to respecting religious freedom.
Sixth Violation against Hoa Hao Buddhist followers in An Giang on April 19
On April 19, numerous Hoa Hao Buddhist followers in Phuoc Hung commune, An Phu district gathered at a private residence of Mr. Bui Van Trung to pay tribute to his mother who passed away few years ago on her death day. However, authorities in An Giang province deployed a large number of police officers and militia to conduct administrative check of visitors and confiscated their vehicles.
In response, relatives of Mr. Trung and around 100 Hoa Hao Buddhist followers rallied on street the harassment. Police beat some protestors and violently took their banners.
Mr. Trung said in the previous evening, some followers came to his house and they were blocked by local police who took their personal documents, and still hold them.
Seventh Violation: Authorities in Nghe An Ask Local Diocese not to Allow Priest Nguyen Duy Tan to Hold Vigils
On April 26, authorities in the central province of Nghe An sent a letter to the Vinh Diocese to ask the local Catholic church not to allow priest Nguyen Duy Tan who came from Tho Hoa parish, Xuan Loc Diocese in Dong Nai province to hold vigils for local followers after he criticized the Vietnamese leadership.
The letter, signed by Vice Chairman of Nghe An People’s Committee Le Xuan Dai, states that Priest Tan’s holding the vigil in Phu Yen parish on April 25 violated 2004 Ordinance on Religions and Beliefs and the government’s decree on public orders.
Priest Tan has criticized the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam and its government, encouraging local Catholic followers to participate in demonstrations which have caused “social disorder” and calling for not respecting the party’s leadership in the country, the letter read.
The move came after priest Tan and thousands of followers in Phu Yen parish held a peaceful demonstration on April 24 to protest the Quynh Luu district police for beating two followers and robbing their t-shirts, which showed “No-Formosa” slogans.
In the evening of the next day, Father Tan held talks with local followers after a vigil about the situation in the country, in which he blamed the government for bad economic management and polluted environment.
Priest Dang Huu Nam from the Vinh Diocese said priest Tan has not violated the law as he discussed the country’s situations with followers. The request to deny him the right to hold vigils interferes with the internal affairs of the church, he noted.
Authorities in Nghe An also requested the Vinh Diocese to organize meetings to mark the 42th anniversary of the country’s reunification.
2.2 Violations of religious freedom in May
First Violation: Authorities in Ba Diem commune, Hoc Mon district, HCMC bans hanging Buddhist flag
On May 2, authorities in Ba Diem commune, Hoc Mon district, HCMC issued a ban of hanging Buddhist flags and banners outside of local pagodas’areas, saying that the flag hanging will make environment unclean.
The move faces strong dissatisfaction among the local Buddhist churches and followers.
Vietnam has not banned religions to hang their banners and flags outside of their religious facilities and Ba Diem is the first locality to have such an act.
Second Violation: Hoa Hao Buddhist Follower Dies from Throat Cuts in Police Custody in Political Case
On May 2, Nguyen Huu Tan, a Hoa Hao Buddhist follower from the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long, was found dead in a local police station with his throat cut and many injuries to his head.
The local police said Tan committed suicide by using an investigating officer’s letter opener to cut his own throat; however, his family suspected that he was killed by police during his detention.
Earlier the same day, Vinh Long province’s authorities deployed around 200 police officers to detain Tan, 38, and search his private residence in Thanh Phuoc commune, Binh Minh town. The police did not show any warrant and took Tan away, the family claimed.
The local authorities said they suspected Tan of conducting activities aiming to overthrow the Communist regime and of carrying out “anti-state propaganda” by producing the flag of the former Vietnam Republic.
Tan’s death is the latest in a series that have occurred under suspicious circumstances while in the custody of the authorities. His family rejected the local police’s version of committing suicide.
Third Violation: State media disseminate distorted information about Thien An Monastery
In early May, a number of state-run outlets, including Dan Viet of the Nong Thon Ngay Nay newspaper, Bnews of the Vietnam News Agency, Phap Luat Thanh pho Ho Chi Minh and Phap Luat Viet Nam have a number of articles providing untrue information about clergy of Thien An Monastery, saying they “destroy pine forest” of the monastery.
In fact, the clergy and students of the monastery have taken care of the pine forest since 1940.
The outlets wrongly disseminated that clergy of the monastery had chopped down hundreds of hectares of pine and destroyed the forest by different methods, including injecting chemicals to trees’ roots.
The campaign of providing untrue information to public is serving for the plan of authorities in Thua Thien-Hue province to seize the forest and land are which belonging to the monastery.
In response, priest Antoine Nguyen Van Duc, head of the Thien An Monastery, issued an official statement saying that the monastery has legal document to prove its ownership of 107-hectare pine forest from 1940 and it has not handed over the ownership over the pine forest to any individuals nor organizations. The clergy and students of the monastery have strived to take care of the pine forest, considering it as the lung for Hue city, the statement noted.
The statement also rejected the untrue information publicized by these outlets, which defamed clergy of the monastery.
Fourth violation: Monk Le Cong Cau of Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam under illegal house arrest
Buddhist Youth leader and human rights defender Le Cong Cau, head of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam’s (UBCV) Buddhist Youth Movement Commission and an active coordinator of UBCV activities, has declared that he will conduct hunger strike to protest authorities in Hue city for holding him under house arrest illegally.
The monk, who resides in Hue city, has been under close police surveillance for years. He has not been allowed to go out of Hue city as well as partake Buddhist birthday’s activities on May 11 when the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam organized a big event in Long Quang Pagoda in Huong Tra district. He was blocked by security agents who said he was not permitted to leave the city.
He has been barred from going to take lunch outside or make a medical check-up.
Police have persecuted him because he is a member of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, the religious organization the Vietnamese communist government cannot control.
Fifth Violation: Suppression against Catholic community in Van Thai sub-parish
In late May, authorities in Quynh Luu district, Nghe An province deployed a large number of police, militia and thugs to threaten outspoken Catholic priest Nguyen Dinh Thuc and demolish many private residences of Catholic followers in the Van Thai sub-parish, the Song Ngoc parish.
On the evening of May 30, authorities in Quynh Luu sent around 700 thugs with wooden bars and bricks and stones to the around of the Van Thai church when Father Thuc held a masses. They caused great noise and threw stones and bricks to the church and other private houses around.
Some Catholic followers were beaten by thugs while one female follower was injured from a glass broken by thugs.
When the church warned, mobile police came but did nothing to disperse the trouble-causing group. They offered to accompany Father Thuc to the Song Ngoc parish church where he resides, however, he rejected.
On the next day, thugs came to Van Thai and attacked many private houses of the local followers who were forced to leave their house to avoid being assaulted. Thugs broke in their house and destroyed their properties, including motorbikes, electronic devices, and roofs while police watched and did nothing to stop them.
A number of Catholic followers were beaten by thugs.
Earlier, on May 28, police and militia in Quynh Luu district held a drill near the Van Thai Church without informing the local residents. They exercised to take over the church, and fired many times to the church. When Catholic followers protested the drill, they sent militia and thugs to beat many protestors.
The recent actions of authorities in Quynh Luu aim to suppress local Catholic followers in Song Ngoc parish and Father Thuc, who have sought to demand fair compensation for the environmental disaster caused by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant located in the neighbor province of Ha Tinh, and request the Taiwanese firm to stop all activities and leave Vietnam.
Quynh Luu district’s authorities have launched a campaign to distort Father Thuc in a bid to arrest him. In early May, authorities in Nghe An launched a public campaign against Catholic priests Dang Huu Nam and Nguyen Dinh Thuc of the Phu Yen parish. Both have been outspoken about the environmental disaster caused by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant.
In particular, authorities in Quynh Luu district have requested local mass organizations such as the women’s association, the war veterans’ association, the youth communist delegation and school students to organize meetings and street demonstrations to condemn the two priests, who advocate for lawsuits against the Taiwanese-invested Formosa in relation to the environmental catastrophe it caused.
On May 28, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tra, a teacher on Catholic doctrine of the Song Ngoc parish, was brutally beaten by police and non-Catholic people after she filmed an attack of police and thugs against a local woman.
In the morning of Sunday, Ms. Tra accidentally witnessed an incident in which a group of policemen and non-Catholic people brutally assaulted a female Catholic follower from the Song Ngoc parish. She stopped and used her smartphone to record the attack.
One of the attackers noticed her action and called on other to detain her. Ngoc ran away, hiding herself in a water closet of a local cafeteria. However, the attackers broke in and arrest her.
Police officers and thugs started beating her, demanding her to take off all clothes to search for her smart phones. They confiscated her three cell phones and asked her to open the devices. When she refused, they beat her again and took her to the police station of the Song Ngoc commune.
In the police station, they continued to beat and interrogate her until other Catholic followers in Phu Yen parish came to demand for her release. Some of parishioners were also beaten by thugs.
The attacks against Tra and another woman are part of increasing suppression against the Catholic community in the central region which is severely affected by the illegal discharge of toxic industrial waste of the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant in the local waters.
The harassments of Quynh Luu district’s authorities aim to silence local followers and expel priests Nguyen Dinh Thuc and Dang Huu Nam who are outspoken about the environmental catastrophe caused by the illegal discharge of toxic industrial waste by Formosa steel plant in the country’s central coastal region last year.
Priests and followers of the Thuan Nghia parish demand authorities in Nghe An province and Quynh Luu district to stop persecution against the Catholic community in Song Ngoc parish, stop an ongoing campaign which aims to divide the Catholic community and non-Catholic community, and launch investigation to bring the attackers to justice. They also request authorities in Nghe An to ask the government to pay compensation for local residents affected by the Formosa-causing environmental disaster.
2.3 Violations on Religious Freedom in June
First violation: Followers of Hoa Hao Buddhist barred from making pray
In the morning of June 10, authorities in An Giang province sent police and militia to block all roads which lead to the office of the Central Committee of Hoa Hao Buddhist Purity (Phật giáo Hòa Hảo Thuần túy) in Long Giang commune, Cho Moi district where the sect will organize a mass pray on the occasion of the 78th anniversary of the sect’s debut by late leader Huynh Phu So.
Many Hoa Hao followers were not permitted to go to the ceremony as the local authorities said the independent sect is not allowed to organize the event. They strongly protested but police did not make compromise so they have to return to their homes.
Second violations: Imprisoned Protestant pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh persecuted in prison after meeting with U.S. diplomat
Officials at Xuan Loc prison in Dong Nai province are torturing Protestant pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh for violating an order to keep silent to U.S. officials about they ways prison officials previously abused him, his wife Tran Thi Hong said after visiting him in prison.
Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh, father of five, met with officials from the U.S. consulate in Ho Chi Minh City in May and told them that prison officials had beaten him, put him in stocks, put glass in his food, and humiliated him.
Chinh’s wife, Tran Thi Hong, who was also beaten and imprisoned for two months and continues to suffer harassment, said that in revenge, prison officials, who warned Chinh the day before the meeting that he was not to speak of the abuses they inflict on him, put Chinh in solitary confinement in a small space immediately after his meeting with U.S. officials.
“I am very concerned about his poor health in solitary confinement because he is suffering severe sinusitis and high blood pressure,” Hong said, urging international and domestic community to pay attention to her husband’s case.
The Vietnamese government arrested pastor Chinh in 2012 on the charge of “undermining government solidarity” for criticizing how religious expression is limited in Vietnam and sentenced him to 11 years in prison.
Chinh has been abused for six years for refusing to admit wrongdoing, despite prison officials’ attempts to make him confess. Vietnamese government officials attempted to break Chinh earlier this year by lying to him that his wife, Hong, had been unfaithful.
Third Violation: Nguyen Van Dien, head of Hoa Hao Buddhist Purity Sect under house arrest
On June 23-26, authorities in Dong Thap province sent plainclothes agents to put Nguyen Van Dien, head of the Hoa Hao Buddhist Purity sect under house arrest in Tan Phuoc commune, Lai Vung district in order to prevent him from participating in a meeting to commemorate his predecessor Le Quang Liem who died two years ago.
Mr. Dien is a subject of the local police’s close surveillance. He has been placed under house arrest in 40 occasions since the beginning of 2015 and the local authorities have not inform him why he is barred from going out in these occasions.
Meanwhile, the Hoa Hao Buddhist Purity sect and the family plan to hold the meeting in Phuc An Vien cemetery in Saigon on June 25.
The Hoa Hao Buddhist Purity is independent sect and its clergy and followers are subjects of police’s persecution.
Fourth violation: Hoa Hao Buddhist followers in An Giang detained
At 11 AM of June 26, Hoa Hao Buddhist followers Bui Van Trung, his son Bui Van Tham and daughter Bui Thi Tham as well as his grandchildrens Tran Thanh Luan and Nguyen Ly Tinh in An Phu district, An Giang province were detained by the district police.
In afternoon of the same day, police released Bui Thi Tham, Tran Thanh Luan and Nguyen Ly Tinh. Police barred other members of the family from going out.
Mr. Trung and his son Tham were prisoners of conscience. Mr. Tham was arrested in July 2012 and later sentenced to 30 months in prison for “resisting on-duty state officials” while Mr. Trung was arrested in October 2012 and sentenced to four years in jail on the same charge. Their arrests were related to Mr. Trung’s establishment of the unsanctioned Hoa Hao Buddhist sect which encourages followers to study the doctrine of late Master Huynh Phu So, who found Hoa Hao Buddhist and later assassinated by communists.
The sect established by Mr. Trung is independent from the Hoa Hao Buddhist set up by the communist regime.
On June 27, An Phu district police announced that they will prosecute Mr. Trung and Mr. Tham on allegation of “causing public disorders” and “resisting on-duty state officials.
Mr. Trung has sent a letter to his family to ask for hiring lawyers for defending him and his son.
Fifth Violation: Catholic Priest Nguyen Ngoc Nam Phong barred from going to Australia
On June 17, Vietnam’s security forces blocked Catholic priest Nguyen Ngoc Nam Phong
from leaving the country, saying he cannot leave the country for national security.
Priest Joan Nguyen Ngoc Nam Phong, an outspoken priest from the Hanoi-based Thai Ha Redemptory Church, was not permitted to go to Australia where he is scheduled to participate in a study program related to religious affairs.
Security forces in the border gate of the Noi Bai International Airport said the ban is based on the proposal of the Hanoi Police Department’s Immigration. They also cited the government Decree 136 as the reason for their move.
Priest Phong is among outspoken religious clerks in Vietnam, often calling for human rights enhancement and democracy as well as talking about environmental issues and China’s violations of the country’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea).
Recently, he was granted a passport after years of being refused by the Ministry of Public Security.
In recent weeks, authorities in Hanoi have launched a campaign to denounce him in a bid to expel him from the Thai Ha Redemptory Church to silence him.
Vietnam has blocked hundreds of local activists from leaving the country in a bid to prevent them from meeting with foreign diplomats, officials, and international activists or to study.
Many Vietnamese who reside in foreign countries have also been not allowed to return to their home country.
Meanwhile, Vietnam has expelled a number of local activists, forcing them to leave in exile. The victims include France-trained legal expert Cu Huy Ha Vu, bloggers and government critics Nguyen Van Hai and Ta Phong Tan, human rights activist Dang Xuan Dieu and Pham Minh Hoang.
Sixth violation: Catholic Clergy in Central Vietnam Brutally Beaten by Thugs as Local Authorities Want to Seize Thien An Monastery’s Land
Catholic clergy and followers in Vietnam’s central province of Thua Thien-Hue have been brutally assaulted by thugs when they were trying to protect the pine forest belonging to the Thien An Saint Benedict Monastery.
Dozens of men believed to be plainclothes police broke in the monastery and demolished a cross and a statue of Jesus on land the church says it owns for decades. When the priests, monks and nuns from the monastery came to protect their religious signs and the monastery’s property, the men used sticks, saws and water pipes to beat them.
The attack occurred on June 28 and continued in the morning of June 29. Due to the assaults, a number of the monastery’s staff suffered from severe injuries. Monk Gioan Batis Truong Vinh Hau fell in coma.
When other monks tried to take him to a hospital, police blocked their way, bloggers posted on social networks.
The Thien An pine forest is a subject of dispute between the monastery and the local authorities. The Thien An Monastery affirmed that they owns the land and has developed the pine forest since 1940.
Authorities in Thua Thien-Hue province wants to seize the land to build a road to connect a lake and a tourist resort over its land.
The Thien An monastery has been the focus of a protracted legal dispute, with government officials attempting to seize the property and the monks arguing that the government’s claim to the property is illegal. A similar violence incident occurred almost exactly a year ago, on June 26, 2016, when police raided the monastery.
Land disputes are common in Communist-ruled Vietnam, and conflicts over property between Catholics and local authorities have been one of the main obstacles over a normalization of relations between Vietnam and the Vatican.
In Vietnam which has been ruled by communists for decades, all land belongs to the state and residents and organizations have only right to use it. The government can take land for socio-economic development or just to give to investors to build industrial and property projects.
PART 3: EVALUATION
3.1 Improvements in promoting the right of religious freedom
- Many localities across the nation are allowed to organize religious events and local authorities ensure social orders during these events.
- Many meetings between the government’s Committee on Religions were held in constructive manner.
- International religious delegations visiting Vietnam were allowed to meet with local followers, including the visits of the rector of the Bangkok-based International Catholic University (ICU) and representative of Dominicans Sister’ International to the Hoa Binh vocational school in Dong Nai province on May 25 or the friendship meeting of Buddhist representatives from Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam in Ha Tien, Kien Giang on May 27. Senior officials of Kien Giang province attended the last meeting.
3.2 Shortcoming in promoting the right of religious freedom
- The government still hardly creates favorable conditions for small unsanctioned religious groups to practice their religions. Their recognition by the government is complicated procedure so the hostile relationship between these religious group and the government’s agencies are still existing.
- Prisoners are not allowed to practice their religions in prisons.
- A number of Catholic priests, including Dang Huu Nam and Nguyen Dinh Thuc in the Vinh Diocese have been harassed, persecuted and threatened to be expelled from their localities. Authorities in Nghe An province and Quynh Luu district support non-Catholic residents to defame priests, creating hostile attitude between the Catholic community and the other remain social groups.
- Many religious clergy have been barred from free movement.
PART 4: RECOMMENDATIONS
- Vietnam’s state agencies must respect the right of freedom of religion as well as the right of freedom of expression of citizen.
- Stop all acts which defame religions and trigger hostile attitudes between religious groups and between religious groups and non-religious community.
- All government agencies have duty to effectively implement Article 24 of the country’s 2013 Constitution on religious freedom. All religious facilities should be protected. All acts defaming religious clergy must be punished while properties and relics of religions should be protected.
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July 5, 2017
SECOND QUARTERLY REPORT 2017 ON FREEDOM OF RELIGION IN VIETNAM
by Nhan Quyen • [Human Rights]
Association to Protect Freedom of Religion, July 2017
PART 1: OVERVIEW ON RELIGION FREEDOM OF RELIGION IN VIETNAM IN APRIL-JUNE, 2017
Vietnam’s parliament passed the Law on Religion and Beliefs in November 2016 but religion clerks spoke out to criticize its shortcomings. On June 1, the Bishops’ Conference sent a joint letter to Vietnam’s highest legislative body National Assembly (NA) and its Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan to express opinions of Vietnam’s Catholic Church about the law.
In its letter dated June 1, the Bishops’ Conference underlines certain positive aspects of the law , such as the recognition of the right to religion of inmates in prisons and reform schools (Article 6), foreigners (Articles 8 and 47), and foreigners studying at Vietnamese religious institutions (Article 49).
The law also recognizes religious organizations approved by the appropriate state agency as non-commercial entities (Article 30).
Along with using controversial words, the law will allow the government to interfere in religious organizations, education and health.
The new Law on Religions and Beliefs, with its ambiguities and contradictions, will fuel the “system of having to ask and wait for authorities’ approval”. The law interferes with the internal affairs of religious communities and establishes tight controls over their activities. The government’s views about religion are inadequate.
The Bishops’ Conference said that ““The bill shows the inadequacy of the government’s views on religion and religious organizations. The authorities look to religions as purely political organizations, sometimes as an opposition force. Pastoral activities in the fields of charity, health and education are not adequately valued and pastoral activities are ostracized.”
Due to wrong treatment and unsympathic attitude with religions, the government used bias and controversial words while building the law to criticize the religions when the authorities dissatisfy and keep surveillance and monitor all religious activities or try to use religions as its tools.
At the point No. 5 of the letter, Bishops have responded directly to the government’s call to work for the country’s growth. “The government has invited religions to accompany the nation. We all agree to this, but we think that the concept of nation must be clearly distinguished from that of regime.”
“The history of the Vietnamese people in particular and the history of the world in general show that political regimes change over time, but the nation lasts forever.”
Accompanying the nation is to go together with the nation’s spiritual and cultural value including fighting against invaders to protect the country’s sovereignty, protest against dictatorship while share sympathy with each other.
Shortly after that, the Vietnam Inter-fair Council, a civil society consisting senior clerks of five religions to struggle for religious freedom and democracy issued a statement to support the stance of the Bishops’ Conference, saying its opinions show clearly that religion freedom is the basic human rights.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s authorities are boosting dissemination of the newly-approved Law on Religions and Beliefs nationwide. Realizing the government’s plan to implement the law according to the government’s Decision No. 306 dated March 8, 2017 of the prime minister. The Government Committee on Religions and its units in provinces and cities have organized many conferences to disseminate the law among local religious clerks with aim to complete the campaign by January 1, 2018.
Religious freedom is the basic right of people, however, Vietnam is considered as the country fails to ensure it. There are religious suppressions and a mechanism of having to ask and wait for authorities’ approval. As a result, a number of foreign embassies including those of the U.S., Australia, and the EU often voice about violations of religious freedom made by Vietnam’s state agencies.
PART 2: VIOLATIONS OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM MADE BY GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
2.1 Violations in April
First violation case: Catholic priest Phan Van Loi was barred from going out while visitors, including Bishop Hoang Duc Oanh harassed.
The incident happened at 9 AM of April 4. Priest Phan Van Loi was invited to take a lunch at Thien An Monastery but plainclothes agents blocked him at the gate of his private residence. Two monks from the monastery who came to pick him up were also barred from entering his house. After long conversation, the security officers agreed to allow the monks to visit the priest but continued to block him, not allowing him to go to the monastery.
On the afternoon of the same day, retired Bishop Micae Hoang Duc Oanh, former head of the Kon Tum Diocese who was visiting Thien An, wanted to visit priest Phan Van Loi. Bishop Oanh, accompanied by the priest-head of the Thien An Monastery, three monks and two staff of the Tin Mung Cho Nguoi Ngheo (Good News for the Poor) news agency, visited priest Phan Van Loi at his private house.
When the guests left, priest Loi wanted to go out to say goodbye to the guests, however, plainclothes agents forced him to come back to his house.
Outspoken priest Phan Van Loi has been de facto under house arrest in years. Many guests come to visit him have also been harassed.
Second violation case: Authorities in Quynh Luu district answered Catholic priest Dang Huu Nam about priests’ question about “demonstration right” but did not talk out the right of religious freedom.
On April 8, Catholic priest Dang Huu Nam received several letters from Nghe An province’s authorities responding to Catholic priests in Quynh Luu district, saying that:
Currently, Catholic priests in Quynh Luu district find difficulties in holding Holly Masses within the district, especially priest Dang Huu Nam and Nguyen Dinh Thuc, who were accompanying followers in peaceful demonstrations to demand Formosa Plastic Group to withdraw from Vietnam after causing the environmental disaster in the country’s central coast last year.
Third violation case: Authorities in Quynh Lam commune, Quynh Luu district, Nghe An province asked the leadership of the Catholic Church of Thuan Nghia parish to report religious activities during the Easter and the whole year 2017.
The communal authorities sent the request to the church on April 12, citing Article 24 of the government’s Decree 92 dated on November 8 on the implementation of the ordinance on religions and beliefs.
However, the request of the Quynh Lam commune’s authorities went against Article 24 on religious freedom of the country’s 2013 Constitution.
In April every year, the Catholic community holds numerous Holly Masses, including Holly Week and Easter.
The Thuan Nghia parish, the biggest parish in Vinh diocese, has over 10,800 followers. Song Ngoc parish with Head priest Gioan B. Nguyen Dinh Thuc and Phu Yen parish with Head priest Anton Dang Huu Nam belong to the Thuan Nghia parish.
Thuan Nghia parish often holds candle vigils for peace and justice, prisoners of conscience and environment.
Fourth violation case: Authorities in Nha Trang city deeply interfered regulations of Chinh Toa church.
On April 11, the Nha Trang-based Chinh Toa Church (Nui Church) issued a statement on visitors’ behaviors which bans visitors who are dressing impolitely to come to the church areas. The leadership said it welcomes all visitors to take part in its Holly Masses.
Shortly after that, the Nha Trang city’s People’s Committee summoned the church’s leadership to question why it does not allow Chinese tourists to visit the church and asked it to explain the statement.
Ms. Nguyen Lai, a local follower, said during the talks, the church’s leadership reaffirmed its regulations and its right to receive only those who are dressing and acting politely to the church’s areas.
Fifth Violation in Lao Cai: Authorities in Muong Khuong district disturbed Easter Holly Mass of local Catholic followers
The incident happened on April 17 as a dozen of strange men who self-described as local government officials broke in a local chapel in which a Catholic priest planned to carry out the Easter Holly Mass for about 100 local followers in Muong Khuong commune. Witnesses said the strange men spoke loudly and harassed followers and tried to arrest priest Phero Nguyen Dinh Thai of Lao Cai parish.
Followers, including female ones, blocked the men to prevent them from detaining the priest. They asked the men to show their personal documents and prove that they were state officials but the men refused.
Priest Giuse Nguyen Van Thanh, head of the Catholic Church in Lao Cai said he telephoned the leadership of Lao Cai province to ask for intervention. After that, the men withdrew so the priest and followers continued their religious activities as planned.
Muong Khuong district’s authorities explained the act by saying they did not receive information about the province’s permission to allow priests from Lao Cai to carry out Holly Masses for the local followers.
Priest Thanh said the local authorities failed to keep their words and intentionally harassed local followers.
“We have sent out petitions to the province’s authorities many times in the past few years and the province’s authorities agreed verbally to allow priests to come to Muong Khuong commune to conduct Holy Masses for followers in Ban Lau and Ban Xen villages,” he said.
He said the Muong Khuong authorities accept only Catholic community in Ban Xen. There are about 400 Catholic followers in the commune and they gather in private houses to pray. The local authorities have harassed Catholic followers in many years and the situation has not been approved although they commit to respecting religious freedom.
Sixth Violation against Hoa Hao Buddhist followers in An Giang on April 19
On April 19, numerous Hoa Hao Buddhist followers in Phuoc Hung commune, An Phu district gathered at a private residence of Mr. Bui Van Trung to pay tribute to his mother who passed away few years ago on her death day. However, authorities in An Giang province deployed a large number of police officers and militia to conduct administrative check of visitors and confiscated their vehicles.
In response, relatives of Mr. Trung and around 100 Hoa Hao Buddhist followers rallied on street the harassment. Police beat some protestors and violently took their banners.
Mr. Trung said in the previous evening, some followers came to his house and they were blocked by local police who took their personal documents, and still hold them.
Seventh Violation: Authorities in Nghe An Ask Local Diocese not to Allow Priest Nguyen Duy Tan to Hold Vigils
On April 26, authorities in the central province of Nghe An sent a letter to the Vinh Diocese to ask the local Catholic church not to allow priest Nguyen Duy Tan who came from Tho Hoa parish, Xuan Loc Diocese in Dong Nai province to hold vigils for local followers after he criticized the Vietnamese leadership.
The letter, signed by Vice Chairman of Nghe An People’s Committee Le Xuan Dai, states that Priest Tan’s holding the vigil in Phu Yen parish on April 25 violated 2004 Ordinance on Religions and Beliefs and the government’s decree on public orders.
Priest Tan has criticized the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam and its government, encouraging local Catholic followers to participate in demonstrations which have caused “social disorder” and calling for not respecting the party’s leadership in the country, the letter read.
The move came after priest Tan and thousands of followers in Phu Yen parish held a peaceful demonstration on April 24 to protest the Quynh Luu district police for beating two followers and robbing their t-shirts, which showed “No-Formosa” slogans.
In the evening of the next day, Father Tan held talks with local followers after a vigil about the situation in the country, in which he blamed the government for bad economic management and polluted environment.
Priest Dang Huu Nam from the Vinh Diocese said priest Tan has not violated the law as he discussed the country’s situations with followers. The request to deny him the right to hold vigils interferes with the internal affairs of the church, he noted.
Authorities in Nghe An also requested the Vinh Diocese to organize meetings to mark the 42th anniversary of the country’s reunification.
2.2 Violations of religious freedom in May
First Violation: Authorities in Ba Diem commune, Hoc Mon district, HCMC bans hanging Buddhist flag
On May 2, authorities in Ba Diem commune, Hoc Mon district, HCMC issued a ban of hanging Buddhist flags and banners outside of local pagodas’areas, saying that the flag hanging will make environment unclean.
The move faces strong dissatisfaction among the local Buddhist churches and followers.
Vietnam has not banned religions to hang their banners and flags outside of their religious facilities and Ba Diem is the first locality to have such an act.
Second Violation: Hoa Hao Buddhist Follower Dies from Throat Cuts in Police Custody in Political Case
On May 2, Nguyen Huu Tan, a Hoa Hao Buddhist follower from the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long, was found dead in a local police station with his throat cut and many injuries to his head.
The local police said Tan committed suicide by using an investigating officer’s letter opener to cut his own throat; however, his family suspected that he was killed by police during his detention.
Earlier the same day, Vinh Long province’s authorities deployed around 200 police officers to detain Tan, 38, and search his private residence in Thanh Phuoc commune, Binh Minh town. The police did not show any warrant and took Tan away, the family claimed.
The local authorities said they suspected Tan of conducting activities aiming to overthrow the Communist regime and of carrying out “anti-state propaganda” by producing the flag of the former Vietnam Republic.
Tan’s death is the latest in a series that have occurred under suspicious circumstances while in the custody of the authorities. His family rejected the local police’s version of committing suicide.
Third Violation: State media disseminate distorted information about Thien An Monastery
In early May, a number of state-run outlets, including Dan Viet of the Nong Thon Ngay Nay newspaper, Bnews of the Vietnam News Agency, Phap Luat Thanh pho Ho Chi Minh and Phap Luat Viet Nam have a number of articles providing untrue information about clergy of Thien An Monastery, saying they “destroy pine forest” of the monastery.
In fact, the clergy and students of the monastery have taken care of the pine forest since 1940.
The outlets wrongly disseminated that clergy of the monastery had chopped down hundreds of hectares of pine and destroyed the forest by different methods, including injecting chemicals to trees’ roots.
The campaign of providing untrue information to public is serving for the plan of authorities in Thua Thien-Hue province to seize the forest and land are which belonging to the monastery.
In response, priest Antoine Nguyen Van Duc, head of the Thien An Monastery, issued an official statement saying that the monastery has legal document to prove its ownership of 107-hectare pine forest from 1940 and it has not handed over the ownership over the pine forest to any individuals nor organizations. The clergy and students of the monastery have strived to take care of the pine forest, considering it as the lung for Hue city, the statement noted.
The statement also rejected the untrue information publicized by these outlets, which defamed clergy of the monastery.
Fourth violation: Monk Le Cong Cau of Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam under illegal house arrest
Buddhist Youth leader and human rights defender Le Cong Cau, head of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam’s (UBCV) Buddhist Youth Movement Commission and an active coordinator of UBCV activities, has declared that he will conduct hunger strike to protest authorities in Hue city for holding him under house arrest illegally.
The monk, who resides in Hue city, has been under close police surveillance for years. He has not been allowed to go out of Hue city as well as partake Buddhist birthday’s activities on May 11 when the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam organized a big event in Long Quang Pagoda in Huong Tra district. He was blocked by security agents who said he was not permitted to leave the city.
He has been barred from going to take lunch outside or make a medical check-up.
Police have persecuted him because he is a member of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, the religious organization the Vietnamese communist government cannot control.
Fifth Violation: Suppression against Catholic community in Van Thai sub-parish
In late May, authorities in Quynh Luu district, Nghe An province deployed a large number of police, militia and thugs to threaten outspoken Catholic priest Nguyen Dinh Thuc and demolish many private residences of Catholic followers in the Van Thai sub-parish, the Song Ngoc parish.
On the evening of May 30, authorities in Quynh Luu sent around 700 thugs with wooden bars and bricks and stones to the around of the Van Thai church when Father Thuc held a masses. They caused great noise and threw stones and bricks to the church and other private houses around.
Some Catholic followers were beaten by thugs while one female follower was injured from a glass broken by thugs.
When the church warned, mobile police came but did nothing to disperse the trouble-causing group. They offered to accompany Father Thuc to the Song Ngoc parish church where he resides, however, he rejected.
On the next day, thugs came to Van Thai and attacked many private houses of the local followers who were forced to leave their house to avoid being assaulted. Thugs broke in their house and destroyed their properties, including motorbikes, electronic devices, and roofs while police watched and did nothing to stop them.
A number of Catholic followers were beaten by thugs.
Earlier, on May 28, police and militia in Quynh Luu district held a drill near the Van Thai Church without informing the local residents. They exercised to take over the church, and fired many times to the church. When Catholic followers protested the drill, they sent militia and thugs to beat many protestors.
The recent actions of authorities in Quynh Luu aim to suppress local Catholic followers in Song Ngoc parish and Father Thuc, who have sought to demand fair compensation for the environmental disaster caused by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant located in the neighbor province of Ha Tinh, and request the Taiwanese firm to stop all activities and leave Vietnam.
Quynh Luu district’s authorities have launched a campaign to distort Father Thuc in a bid to arrest him. In early May, authorities in Nghe An launched a public campaign against Catholic priests Dang Huu Nam and Nguyen Dinh Thuc of the Phu Yen parish. Both have been outspoken about the environmental disaster caused by the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant.
In particular, authorities in Quynh Luu district have requested local mass organizations such as the women’s association, the war veterans’ association, the youth communist delegation and school students to organize meetings and street demonstrations to condemn the two priests, who advocate for lawsuits against the Taiwanese-invested Formosa in relation to the environmental catastrophe it caused.
On May 28, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tra, a teacher on Catholic doctrine of the Song Ngoc parish, was brutally beaten by police and non-Catholic people after she filmed an attack of police and thugs against a local woman.
In the morning of Sunday, Ms. Tra accidentally witnessed an incident in which a group of policemen and non-Catholic people brutally assaulted a female Catholic follower from the Song Ngoc parish. She stopped and used her smartphone to record the attack.
One of the attackers noticed her action and called on other to detain her. Ngoc ran away, hiding herself in a water closet of a local cafeteria. However, the attackers broke in and arrest her.
Police officers and thugs started beating her, demanding her to take off all clothes to search for her smart phones. They confiscated her three cell phones and asked her to open the devices. When she refused, they beat her again and took her to the police station of the Song Ngoc commune.
In the police station, they continued to beat and interrogate her until other Catholic followers in Phu Yen parish came to demand for her release. Some of parishioners were also beaten by thugs.
The attacks against Tra and another woman are part of increasing suppression against the Catholic community in the central region which is severely affected by the illegal discharge of toxic industrial waste of the Taiwanese Formosa steel plant in the local waters.
The harassments of Quynh Luu district’s authorities aim to silence local followers and expel priests Nguyen Dinh Thuc and Dang Huu Nam who are outspoken about the environmental catastrophe caused by the illegal discharge of toxic industrial waste by Formosa steel plant in the country’s central coastal region last year.
Priests and followers of the Thuan Nghia parish demand authorities in Nghe An province and Quynh Luu district to stop persecution against the Catholic community in Song Ngoc parish, stop an ongoing campaign which aims to divide the Catholic community and non-Catholic community, and launch investigation to bring the attackers to justice. They also request authorities in Nghe An to ask the government to pay compensation for local residents affected by the Formosa-causing environmental disaster.
2.3 Violations on Religious Freedom in June
First violation: Followers of Hoa Hao Buddhist barred from making pray
In the morning of June 10, authorities in An Giang province sent police and militia to block all roads which lead to the office of the Central Committee of Hoa Hao Buddhist Purity (Phật giáo Hòa Hảo Thuần túy) in Long Giang commune, Cho Moi district where the sect will organize a mass pray on the occasion of the 78th anniversary of the sect’s debut by late leader Huynh Phu So.
Many Hoa Hao followers were not permitted to go to the ceremony as the local authorities said the independent sect is not allowed to organize the event. They strongly protested but police did not make compromise so they have to return to their homes.
Second violations: Imprisoned Protestant pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh persecuted in prison after meeting with U.S. diplomat
Officials at Xuan Loc prison in Dong Nai province are torturing Protestant pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh for violating an order to keep silent to U.S. officials about they ways prison officials previously abused him, his wife Tran Thi Hong said after visiting him in prison.
Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh, father of five, met with officials from the U.S. consulate in Ho Chi Minh City in May and told them that prison officials had beaten him, put him in stocks, put glass in his food, and humiliated him.
Chinh’s wife, Tran Thi Hong, who was also beaten and imprisoned for two months and continues to suffer harassment, said that in revenge, prison officials, who warned Chinh the day before the meeting that he was not to speak of the abuses they inflict on him, put Chinh in solitary confinement in a small space immediately after his meeting with U.S. officials.
“I am very concerned about his poor health in solitary confinement because he is suffering severe sinusitis and high blood pressure,” Hong said, urging international and domestic community to pay attention to her husband’s case.
The Vietnamese government arrested pastor Chinh in 2012 on the charge of “undermining government solidarity” for criticizing how religious expression is limited in Vietnam and sentenced him to 11 years in prison.
Chinh has been abused for six years for refusing to admit wrongdoing, despite prison officials’ attempts to make him confess. Vietnamese government officials attempted to break Chinh earlier this year by lying to him that his wife, Hong, had been unfaithful.
Third Violation: Nguyen Van Dien, head of Hoa Hao Buddhist Purity Sect under house arrest
On June 23-26, authorities in Dong Thap province sent plainclothes agents to put Nguyen Van Dien, head of the Hoa Hao Buddhist Purity sect under house arrest in Tan Phuoc commune, Lai Vung district in order to prevent him from participating in a meeting to commemorate his predecessor Le Quang Liem who died two years ago.
Mr. Dien is a subject of the local police’s close surveillance. He has been placed under house arrest in 40 occasions since the beginning of 2015 and the local authorities have not inform him why he is barred from going out in these occasions.
Meanwhile, the Hoa Hao Buddhist Purity sect and the family plan to hold the meeting in Phuc An Vien cemetery in Saigon on June 25.
The Hoa Hao Buddhist Purity is independent sect and its clergy and followers are subjects of police’s persecution.
Fourth violation: Hoa Hao Buddhist followers in An Giang detained
At 11 AM of June 26, Hoa Hao Buddhist followers Bui Van Trung, his son Bui Van Tham and daughter Bui Thi Tham as well as his grandchildrens Tran Thanh Luan and Nguyen Ly Tinh in An Phu district, An Giang province were detained by the district police.
In afternoon of the same day, police released Bui Thi Tham, Tran Thanh Luan and Nguyen Ly Tinh. Police barred other members of the family from going out.
Mr. Trung and his son Tham were prisoners of conscience. Mr. Tham was arrested in July 2012 and later sentenced to 30 months in prison for “resisting on-duty state officials” while Mr. Trung was arrested in October 2012 and sentenced to four years in jail on the same charge. Their arrests were related to Mr. Trung’s establishment of the unsanctioned Hoa Hao Buddhist sect which encourages followers to study the doctrine of late Master Huynh Phu So, who found Hoa Hao Buddhist and later assassinated by communists.
The sect established by Mr. Trung is independent from the Hoa Hao Buddhist set up by the communist regime.
On June 27, An Phu district police announced that they will prosecute Mr. Trung and Mr. Tham on allegation of “causing public disorders” and “resisting on-duty state officials.
Mr. Trung has sent a letter to his family to ask for hiring lawyers for defending him and his son.
Fifth Violation: Catholic Priest Nguyen Ngoc Nam Phong barred from going to Australia
On June 17, Vietnam’s security forces blocked Catholic priest Nguyen Ngoc Nam Phong
from leaving the country, saying he cannot leave the country for national security.
Priest Joan Nguyen Ngoc Nam Phong, an outspoken priest from the Hanoi-based Thai Ha Redemptory Church, was not permitted to go to Australia where he is scheduled to participate in a study program related to religious affairs.
Security forces in the border gate of the Noi Bai International Airport said the ban is based on the proposal of the Hanoi Police Department’s Immigration. They also cited the government Decree 136 as the reason for their move.
Priest Phong is among outspoken religious clerks in Vietnam, often calling for human rights enhancement and democracy as well as talking about environmental issues and China’s violations of the country’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea).
Recently, he was granted a passport after years of being refused by the Ministry of Public Security.
In recent weeks, authorities in Hanoi have launched a campaign to denounce him in a bid to expel him from the Thai Ha Redemptory Church to silence him.
Vietnam has blocked hundreds of local activists from leaving the country in a bid to prevent them from meeting with foreign diplomats, officials, and international activists or to study.
Many Vietnamese who reside in foreign countries have also been not allowed to return to their home country.
Meanwhile, Vietnam has expelled a number of local activists, forcing them to leave in exile. The victims include France-trained legal expert Cu Huy Ha Vu, bloggers and government critics Nguyen Van Hai and Ta Phong Tan, human rights activist Dang Xuan Dieu and Pham Minh Hoang.
Sixth violation: Catholic Clergy in Central Vietnam Brutally Beaten by Thugs as Local Authorities Want to Seize Thien An Monastery’s Land
Catholic clergy and followers in Vietnam’s central province of Thua Thien-Hue have been brutally assaulted by thugs when they were trying to protect the pine forest belonging to the Thien An Saint Benedict Monastery.
Dozens of men believed to be plainclothes police broke in the monastery and demolished a cross and a statue of Jesus on land the church says it owns for decades. When the priests, monks and nuns from the monastery came to protect their religious signs and the monastery’s property, the men used sticks, saws and water pipes to beat them.
The attack occurred on June 28 and continued in the morning of June 29. Due to the assaults, a number of the monastery’s staff suffered from severe injuries. Monk Gioan Batis Truong Vinh Hau fell in coma.
When other monks tried to take him to a hospital, police blocked their way, bloggers posted on social networks.
The Thien An pine forest is a subject of dispute between the monastery and the local authorities. The Thien An Monastery affirmed that they owns the land and has developed the pine forest since 1940.
Authorities in Thua Thien-Hue province wants to seize the land to build a road to connect a lake and a tourist resort over its land.
The Thien An monastery has been the focus of a protracted legal dispute, with government officials attempting to seize the property and the monks arguing that the government’s claim to the property is illegal. A similar violence incident occurred almost exactly a year ago, on June 26, 2016, when police raided the monastery.
Land disputes are common in Communist-ruled Vietnam, and conflicts over property between Catholics and local authorities have been one of the main obstacles over a normalization of relations between Vietnam and the Vatican.
In Vietnam which has been ruled by communists for decades, all land belongs to the state and residents and organizations have only right to use it. The government can take land for socio-economic development or just to give to investors to build industrial and property projects.
PART 3: EVALUATION
3.1 Improvements in promoting the right of religious freedom
3.2 Shortcoming in promoting the right of religious freedom
PART 4: RECOMMENDATIONS
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