8,000 prisoners, including famous Christian and political dissidents, to celebrate Vietnam’s Lunar New Year in early February. In a reaction, the international human rights group Amnesty International (AI) said it "welcomed" reports that Roman Catholic priest Father Nguyen Van Ly, 58, and physician Nguyen Dan Que, 62, along with two other key prisoners of conscience were among those freed.
"These four human rights advocates have been incarcerated for a total of 88 years since the late 1970s," said Natalie Hill, Deputy Asia Director at Amnesty International in a statement monitored by BosNewsLife. "Given the harsh conditions in Vietnamese prisons
it is remarkable that they are still alive."
Father Ly was originally sentenced to 15 years in prison for "abusing religious freedom" after urging the United States not to ratify its trade agreement with Vietnam unless Hanoi improved its record on religious freedom. The sentence was later reportedly reduced to 10 years.
"PEACEFUL ACTIVISTS"
"Peaceful activities he carried out in the practice of his religious beliefs over a number of years are believed to be behind" the imprisonment of the priest, AI said. "These activities included repeated calls for more religious freedom and criticism of the government’s human rights policies."
Dr. Que, spent 20 of the last 26 years in prison "for criticizing the government’s human rights record", AI said. He was arrested in 2003 after posting articles on the Internet criticizing state control of the media, and sentenced to 30 months in prison for "abusing democratic rights."
Another religious figure to be released was identified as Buddhist Monk Thich Thien Minh, 51, also known by his secular name Huynh Van Ba. He was reportedly arrested and imprisoned in 1979, after protesting the government’s takeover of the pagoda where he lived. The pagoda was razed to the ground and the monk was sentenced to life imprisonment after being accused of "trying to overthrow the government," AI said.
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
"He has been subjected to long periods of solitary confinement and was reportedly shackled hand and foot for a continuous three-year period," AI added in a statement.
In addition well known dissident, Nguyen Dinh Huy, 73, also received amnesty. A former English and History professor, he was the founder of the Movement to Unite the People and Build Democracy (MUPBD), AI said.
He was arrested in November 1993 with 11 other MUPBD members for planning an international conference on democracy and human rights in Ho Chi Minh City and reportedly sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment under national security legislation. Human rights watchers say he has suffered from ill health after previously spending 17 years in prison for "re-education," without charge or trial.
VIETNAM TRADITION
While it has been a tradition in Vietnam to release large groups of prisoners, human rights watchers believe international pressure helped bring about the latest amnesty of these dissidents.
Daniel Alberman, a Southeast Asia researcher noted that Vietnam has not released prominent political prisoners since the late 1990’s. "There’s been sustained international pressure on the Vietnamese government regarding these and other cases. There’s many criticism from many, many quarters on these cases, who are extremely well known," he told the Voice of America (VOA) network.
Last year, Washington placed Vietnam on its list of countries of particular concern for religious freedom, a roster of particularly repressive regimes that includes Iran and North Korea. The United States is to decide whether to impose sanctions on Vietnam by
March 15, VOA reported.
(With BosNewsLife News Center, Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent)
