tribal Christians in Laos have been released from jail after being forced to "deny Christ" in an affidavit, but it expressed concern about two believers who remain detained "for refusing to sign" the document.
In a statement to BosNewsLife, Jubilee Campaign said that "under pressure" of "torture" 22 of the 24 Christians" detained since March, signed an affidavit "indicating they wished to recant and were ordered not to meet together any longer for worship or prayer."
However it said that the two others "are still in detention" on what it and other human rights watchers believe are trumped up charges of "weapons possession." All Christians of the group, including church leaders and evangelists, are members of the Bru tribe and come from the villages of Hueyhoy Nua, Kaeng Aluang, Palong and Nonsung in the Muangphin District of Savannakhet, a province in southern Laos, Jubilee Campaign and other church sources said.
PARTY POLICY
In a letter to the office of the Lao Evangelical Church (LEC) in Vientiane, representatives of the Bru Christians in Hueyhoy Nua and Kaeng Aluang reportedly said that three district officers had come to their villages on March 10 to "promote and propagate state and party policy."
Apparently, this policy entailed orders for the Christians to "stop and denounce their faith in Jesus religion." Jubilee Campaign said police told villagers that unless "everyone signs the affidavit to give up their [Chritian] faith," security forces would base themselves in two villages so tribal Christians would not be able to work in their plantations and rice fields.
As the Christians in Muangphin District apparently persisted in refusing to recant, the situation reportedly grew more tense with an increasing number of district officers, police and soldiers dispatched to the villages. "On March 27, the first two Christians were arrested at Hueyhoy Nua village. Authorities arrested eight more the next day, seven on March 30 and another seven on April 1, bringing the total to 24" said Jubilee Campaign.
APPEAL LETTER
The Bru Christians reportedly appealed in a letter to the LEC "for our right and justice, because this has not happened for any other reason than our faith." In their efforts to get the Christians to renounce their faith, believers "were made to endure a severe torture: bound together with rope, they were forced into a rice field in Hueyhoy Nua village and left in the hot sun for two days with no food or water," said Christian Aid Mission (CAM), an organization supporting indigenous missionaries.
The allegations seem in line with observations made by the United States State Department regarding persecution of Lao Christians. "Officials in some areas of Savannakhet, Attapeu, Vientiane, Bolikhamsai, and Luang Namtha Provinces arrested and detained some religious believers without charges," the State Department said in its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in February.
There are over 35,000 Evangelical Christians in Laos today including 20,000 Khmu, 8,000 Lao, 4,000 Hmong and 3,000 other tribes, according to estimated from Christian rights watchdog Open Doors. A small number of Lao – mostly those of the remaining French-educated elite – are Christians.
BUDDHISTS DOMINATE
About 60% of the people of Laos are Theravada Buddhists, and it was long seen as the official national religion of the Communist-run nation of over 6 million people, "However, the Department of Religious Affairs ensures that the teaching of Buddhism is in accordance with Marxist principles. All monks now have to undergo political indoctrination as part of their monastic training," Open Doors added. The Communist Pathet Lao took control of the government in 1975, ending a six-century-old monarchy.
Church sources say that although the federal government "is against Christians" they do not want bad publicity internationally. The ‘dirty work’ is allegedly be done by local officials and not from Vientiane. "In a sense, the federal government wants the locals to persecute, but they don’t want them to . . . gather negative international publicity," a source was quoted as saying by Jubilee Campaign.
Lao Christians want the international community to know about their plight and have urged supporters "to pray for them," Christian human rights groups said.
(With BosNewsLife Research, and reports from Laos and the United States)
