a prayer meeting there, five days after they demolished half of the complex and an adjacent home of the imprisoned pastor, news reports said Monday, July 25. Compass Direct, a Christian news agency which investigates the plight of persecuted believers, said officials forced their way in Sunday, July 24, as about 15 Christians were praying quietly in the center in Ho Chi Minh City.
One of 30 local authorities, shouted at them to stop and ordered Le Thi Phu Dzung, the wife of imprisoned pastor Nguyen Hong Quang, to disband the gathering, Compass Direct reported.
NO REACTION
There was no immediate reaction from the Vietnamese government, but it has rejected United States concern over its human rights record. Dzung was charged with "gathering a crowd and disturbing public order" and "conducting illegal religious activities," Compass Direct said, citing sources in the area.
She was reportedly summoned to appear later Monday, July 25, at the Binh Khanh Ward office on July 25 to “resolve the violation.”
Police insisted on checking the believers’ ID cards and forcibly escorted two men to the police station. One of those taken away was Le Quang Du, father of Le Thi Hong Lien, a young woman sentenced to prison last year along with the Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang and others.
BADLY ABUSED
Human rights activists say Lien was so badly abused in prison that she suffered a mental breakdown. The two men were released after two hours of questioning, Compass Direct said.
Officials reportedly returned to the Mennonite Church center just before 9 pm local time Sunday, July 24, for a second raid after an apparent tip that Dzung had convened another meeting.
Finding no gathering, security police instead threatened to confiscate motorcycles parked inside the building. They allegedly threatened to take to the police station any vehicles without proper papers. Dzung reportedly strongly protested this "as utterly unreasonable" and demanded to see a search warrant.
"LIBERTY ON TRIAL"
The security police left some 15 minutes later after making the Christians sign a paper that they were operating their vehicles legally, Compass Direct reported. The news agency quoted what it described as "a prominent house church leader" as saying that "the May 2005 US-Vietnam agreement on improving religious liberty is on trial."
There have been at least 80 official actions reported against the Mennonite center in District 2 of Ho Chi Minh City since the arrest of Pastor Quang on June 8, 2004.
He remains in a prison camp in Dak Lak province, suffering occasional blackouts from the hard labor he is forced to do daily, human rights groups say.
His 31-year-old wife, mother of their three young children, was elected head of the Vietnam Mennonite Church in June "and now takes the brunt of the state’s brutality toward the Mennonite house church organization," Compass Direct commented. (With reports from Vietnam).
