Torture of
Christians in Vietnam
Viet cong tra tan tin do dao Tin Lanh
From: scott Johnson
To: scottj@mail2me.com.au
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 7:01 AM
Subject: Torture of Christians in Vietnam
See article below.
Vietnamese Christian released from Prison. However, over 200 Montagnards
still remain in prison (that we know about) and this doesnt count the
disappeared.
Also note the references to being injected with chemicals to alter the
tortured woman's mental state.
"It was very clear from Miss Lien's condition that she had been severely
tortured while incarcerated, including -- as we see -- drug injections that
were used to alter her mental condition.
(Viet cong da chich thuoc de lam
cho than kinh he cua co bi truc trac)
She was beaten, she
was given electric shocks, in addition to being deprived of food and
subjected to almost daily verbal abuse."
(co ta bi danh dap, bi quay dien, bi
bat nhin doi, va ngay nao cung bi mang chui tan te)
NOTE: The Montagnard Foundation has been reporting poisonings, chemical
injections and murders in captivity of Christian Montagnards for several
years now.
(Nhung nguoi Thuong Tin Lanh
bi bat da bi chich thuoc doc va giet hai trong luc ho bi bat giu.)
I personally interviewed and filmed a Montagnard refugee last year who saw
5-6 Montagnards who had been injected with poison by police (you can see his
video testimony with others on
www.montagnard-foundation.org
website. Go to photo "where is your Jesus now" then scroll down and click on
video ICON.
(chinh toi da phong van va
quay phim mot nguoi Thuong ti nan hoi nam ngoai, va nguoi nay da trong thay
5, 6 nguoi Thuong khac bi chich thuoc doc. Xin vao trang web neu tren, bam
vao link "where is your Jesus now" va xuong ben duoi bam vao nut Video de
xem phim).
The Montagnard Foundation has since 2001 reported in many press releases how
relatives in Vietnam describe the most brutal conditions of their impriosned
relatives who report that upon being injected with chemicals by Vietnamese
security forces they go insane, howling uncontrollably and sometimes die. I
can assure anyone who disbeleives these atrocities that once you speak to
actual victims of these crimes - you will not disbelieve them.
(Hoi Nguoi Thuong tu nam
2001 den nay da tuong trinh qua rat nhieu ban thong tin bao chi ve viec than
nhan cua ho song tai VN da bi giam giu trong hoan canh doc ac, va bi chich
thuoc doc boi cong an Viet Cong khien cho ho hoa dien, hu len nhung tieng
ghe ron khong tu kiem soat duoc va sau do doi khi chet luon. Toi co the bao
dam rang ai da noi chuyen voi nhung nan nhan nay se khong bao gio nghi ngo
la ho da noi lao).
I've personally interviewed a four year old child who was forced to watch
his father tortured. This child was left to die in the jungle but was
rescued by UNHCR and now lives in the United States. Another example of so
many is Kok Ksor's 80 year Mother, who was been electric shock tortured.
Ban than toi da phong van
mot dua be len 4 tuoi da bi bat buoc phai chung kien trong luc cha no bi tra
tan. Dua be nay bi quang vao rung de cho chet, nhung da duoc Cao Uy Ti Nan
LHQ cuu duoc va nay dang song tai Hoa Ky. Mot truong hop cung giong nhu bao
nhieu truong hop khac la nguoi me gia da 80 tuoi cua ong Kok Ksor, ba cu da
bi tra tan bang cach cho dien giat.
The Vietnamese Communst government is an absolute disgrace to humanity.
Nha cam quyen Viet Nam Cong San la mot che do vo nhan dao.
Regards
Scott Johnson
Advisor Montagnard Foundation
ABC Radio Australia
Radio Australia - News - US announces deal with Vietnam on religious freedom
[This is the print version of story
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/news/stories/s1361107.htm]
Last Updated 06/05/2005, 08:35:57
Vietnam and the United States have reached an agreement on religious
freedom.
US officials say Vietnam has released a number of religious prisoners and
allowed churches to reopen, among other measures.
Last year, the United States classified Vietnam as a "country of particular
concern" for violating religious freedoms.
But America's special envoy for international religious freedom, John
Hanford, says the new agreement "addresses a number of important religious
freedom concerns".
He says more talks will be held when the US deputy secretary of state,
Robert Zoellick, visits Hanoi.
But Ambassador Hanford also says other important steps still need to be
taken, and the United States will continue to monitor developments in
Vietnam closely.
PM plans historic US visit
Vietnam's prime minister, Phan Van Khai, currently in Australia, is to make
a historic visit to Washington next month, the first by such a senior figure
from Hanoi since the end of the Vietnam War.
Mr Khai says the aim of the visit is to improve relations between the two
countries, which will celebrate the 10th anniversary of diplomatic ties on
July 11.
On Sunday, Vietnam marked the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, now Ho
Chi Minh City, and the defeat of the US-backed South Vietnamese regime.
Some three million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans were killed in the
fighting.
< back
© 2005 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Copyright information: http://abc.net.au/common/copyrigh.htm
Privacy information: http://abc.net.au/privacy.htm
Sent:
Thursday, May 12, 2005 3:23 PM
Subject:
Vietnam: Religious Persecution Persists in Central Highlands
For
Immediate Release:
Vietnam:
Religious Persecution Persists in Central Highlands
Religious Reforms Bypass
Montagnard Christians
(New York, May 13, 2005) – New evidence shows that Vietnamese security
forces are continuing to mistreat and arbitrarily detain Montagnards,
indigenous hill people from the Central Highlands, Human Rights Watch said
today in a new 16-page briefing paper (the full text of the briefing paper
can be found at:
http://hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/vietnam0505/).
Human Rights Watch
said Vietnamese officials are also continuing to force Montagnard Christians
to recant their faith.
Targeted in
particular are those perceived as following “Dega Christianity,” an
unsanctioned form of evangelical Christianity followed by many Montagnards,
who distrust government-controlled religious organizations and seek to
manage their own affairs. The Vietnamese government has banned Dega
Christianity and charges that it is not a religion but a separatist
political movement.
“Montagnards who
attempt to practice their religion independently still face assaults and
live in fear,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The
persecution of Montagnards for their religious beliefs and for their claims
to ancestral lands continues unabated.”
Human Rights Watch
said that recent talks between Vietnam and the United States on Vietnam’s
designation by the U.S. as a “Country of Particular Concern” for religious
persecution have produced some commitments by the Vietnamese government to
allow greater religious freedom. Registration requirements for some churches
have been loosened, and the Prime Minister has issued a regulation banning
the forced renunciation of religious beliefs.
However, the
regulation requires religious organizations to obtain government permission
in order to operate. It states that only churches that have conducted “pure
religious activities” since 1975 can register for official authorization.
This effectively eliminates Montagnard house churches in the Central
Highlands, most of which started up in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In an
ominous tone, it instructs officials to publicly expose “disguised
Protestants” and to “fight attempts by hostile forces to abuse Protestantism
to incite people to act subversively.”
According to recent
eyewitness accounts obtained by Human Rights Watch, local authorities in the
Central Highlands have used the new regulation as grounds to arrest
Montagnards suspected of belonging to Christian groups that operate
independently. Government officials in Cu Se district of Gia Lai province
summoned Montagnards from many villages for all-day meetings at district
headquarters, where they were warned not to follow Dega Christianity, and in
some cases forced to sign pledges promising to abandon religion and
politics. (The Evangelical Church of Vietnam/South (ECVN) is the only
Protestant organization authorized by the government to operate in southern
Vietnam.)
In March and April,
security forces in several districts of Gia Lai conducted search operations
in the forests and midnight raids on villages, in which they ransacked the
homes of women whose husbands have gone into hiding. Some women and their
children were beaten during these raids. Human Rights Watch said that
Montagnards in hiding, as well as villagers suspected of providing food to
them, continue to be arrested by police and soldiers. Those arrested include
not only those perceived to be Dega Church members, but pastors affiliated
with the ECVN and their relatives. Some of those arrested have been beaten
or tortured in detention, according to credible eyewitness accounts.
“Recent commitments
from the Vietnamese government on religious freedom are welcome, but only if
they lead to an end to abuses,” said Adams. “Vietnam should amend the
regulations to allow full and unconditional religious freedom in order to
end the official identification of religion as a threat to the state.”
Human Rights Watch
said that at this point, the reforms appear to be having the perverse effect
of allowing government security forces to take fresh action against
religious activists.
Human Rights Watch
said that it also has received reports of mistreatment of Montagnards who
voluntarily returned to Vietnam from refugee camps in Cambodia. According to
these reports, at least four Montagnards who returned to Vietnam in March
were detained for more than ten days upon return. During interrogation by
police at the Gia Lai Provincial Police Station, one of the returnees was
stabbed in the hand with a writing pen. Another was punched in the back, the
third was hit in the stomach, and the fourth was slapped across the face.
They were then escorted to their home villages by commune police and local
officials, who placed them under surveillance.
In a recent
Memorandum of Understanding signed with the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR), Vietnam pledged that there would be no retaliation or
mistreatment against individuals who return from Cambodia to Vietnam.
However, Vietnam continues to deny international monitors unhindered access
to the Central Highlands to check on the safety of returnees.
“The general
mistreatment of Montagnards and the targeting of returnees from Cambodia
makes it clear that Vietnam is not upholding the commitments it made to
UNHCR in January,” said Adams. “Hanoi must allow international monitors into
the Central Highlands to ensure proper implementation of the agreement.
Vietnam should stop denying that these abuses are happening and start
showing the political will to end them.”
Annex: Excerpted
Case Examples from the Briefing
Paper
