authorities but concern remains over a detained Christian woman who suffers of a mental illness and mistreatment, church sources confirmed late Monday February 7.
In a statement to BosNewsLife News Center, the Mennonite World Conference (MWC), said Nguyen Van Phuong was released after nearly one year in prison Thursday, March 3, a day after the first anniversary of massive arrests of Christian leaders.
"He appeared to be in good health," said the MWC, a global community of Christian churches who trace their beginning to the 16th-century Radical Reformation in Europe. "His wife, Phuong Trang, and one-year-old son were among family members and church friends who met him as he was released from the Bo La Prison" 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Ho Chi Minh City, said the organization, which has close contacts with persecuted believers.
PASTORAL ROLES
Phuong, 38, had served various pastoral roles since his mid-twenties. When several Mennonite communities formed the Vietnam Mennonite Church in 2003, he was chosen to serve on the administrative committee as a member for social ministries, church officials said. His brothers, Nguyen Huu Nghia and Nguyen Thanh Nhan, were reportedly released in December after serving a nine month prison sentence.
However the MWC expressed concern about the whereabouts of 21-year old Mennonite teacher Le Thi Hong Lien, who it says has been in prison since her arrest in June 2004. Lien is reportedly suffering "from severe mental illness in the prison infirmary" at Chi Hoa Prison, Ho Chi Minh City. "Her condition is said to be deteriorating and she is being denied access to the treatment she needs," the MCW added.
It came as a setback for church officials who had hoped the young woman would be among the 8,000 prisoners who were granted amnesty by the government last month to celebrate Vietnam’s Lunar New Year. Under pressure from the international community, several prominent Christian and other religious leaders as well as political dissidents were also released in recent weeks.
HOUSE CHURCHES
In addition the government promised it would allow Christians in Vietnam’s restive Central Highlands, known as Montagnards, to operate house churches, if they end their support for groups that allegedly supported the United States during the Vietnam war.
But the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has warned Vietnam it "remains concerned" that its government instructions "only affect one segment of the Vietnamese population," and that they remain open for wide interpretation.
The US State Department said last week that Vietnam continues to restrict freedom of religion and the operation of religious organizations other than those approved by the government.
NATIONWIDE DECREE
"The government failed to issue a nationwide decree banning forced renunciations of faith. [The government] did not end the physical abuse of religious believers, continued to hold a significant number of religious prisoners, and although it permitted the re-opening of some churches closed in the Central Highlands in 2001, it refused to allow the re-opening and registration of hundreds of others," it added.
Open Doors, which supports persecuted Christians, estimates that 400 churches have been closed by the Communist Party since 2002 and that at least over 50 church leaders ‘disappeared’ in Dak Lak province and the Central Highlands.
Also "two Christians died after being beaten by the police and being forced to sign a document renouncing their faith," said Open Doors and other well informed human rights activists recently.
Analysts say the Communist authorities remain concerned about especially the growing number of evangelical Christians, although they currently comprise only 1% of the population, according to estimates.
VIETNAM DENIES
Vietnam has denied it violates religious rights. Communist media have accused the US of "cheating those who do not have objective information" about Vietnam. "The US often makes biased assessments of issues associated with human rights and freedom of religion in Vietnam," Radio The Voice of Vietnam said Thursday, March 3.
"Authors stick to the same method of citing facts without clear and specific explanations with the aim of drawing a gloomy picture of the human rights situation in Vietnam, and then subjectively conclude that Vietnam’s human rights record remains bad," the network stressed. (With BosNewsLife News Center and Reports from Vietnam)
