VIETNAM SOLDIERS ABUSE AND TORTURE MONTAGNARD CHRISTIANS (Christian Aid)

Vietnamese soldiers have been on a rampage arresting, torturing and abusing Christians, according to a report received last week by Christian Aid.

Montagnard is the label given to several tribal groups, including the Degar, that live in the rural hills of Vietnam. Many of them are Christians, though some are animists. Because they sided with U.S. forces in the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese government hates them. It also considers anyone believing in Christianity, which they consider a foreign religion, as a traitor to their country. For this reason they are hunted down and persecuted mercilessly

4:31:37 PM    

Prominent Hmong Christian Leader Arrested, Extradited (Compass direct)

On November 29, Vietnamese authorities extradited Ma Van Bay from Binh Phuoc province in the Central Highlands to his former home in Ha Giang province on the China border. Christians who know the brutality of government authorities in Ha Giang fear Bay, a key Hmong Christian leader arrested on November 17, will face serious abuse. A Christian since the early 1990s, Bay emerged as a leader of the rapidly growing Christian community in his home province. In 1997, authorities accused him of “stealing money from the citizens for personal gain” and illegally propagating the Christian religion. Badly beaten and facing up to 12 years in prison, Bay escaped custody and received help from Christians of another minority group in the Central Highlands. On July 1, police in Ha Giang beat to death another Hmong Christian, Vang Seo Giao, and disposed of his body in a river. A journalist in Hanoi who questioned Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the murder was informed that Giao had “drowned crossing a stream while drunk.”

4:28:36 PM    

CHRISTIANS REFUSED GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE AS FLOODS HIT VIETNAM (ANS)

Most of the people affected when Central areas of Vietnam suffered from a devastating series of storms and heavy rains on November 14, 16 and 24 have received financial assistance and immediate relief from the Vietnamese government. However, 425 Christians in the Quang Ngai province and 654 Christians in the Ninh province were refused help solely because of their Christian faith, according to the Washington, DC-based International Christian Concern (ICC).

4:25:20 PM    

TURKMENISTAN: Continuing concern at criminalisation of religious belief and practice  (Forum 18 News Service)

Reliable sources have told Forum 18 News Service that officials don't yet know how harshly to implement Turkenistan's new religion law, which breaches international human rights agreements the country has signed. It is believed that instructions may be given for harsh implementation. International pressure on Turkmenistan is growing the UN human rights committee passing a European Union sponsored resolution calling for an end to "serious and continuing human rights violations", as well as criticism by the US Helsinki Commission. US Secretary of State Colin Powell told this month's OSCE ministerial meeting that "Turkmenistan's persecution of political opponents and religious minorities violates the letter and the spirit of the Helsinki Act." Religious minorities inside Turkmenistan have told Forum 18 of their continuing concerns about how the new law may be used to criminalise religious belief and practice. However a Baptist told Forum 18 that "The rulers of Turkmenistan are not in charge, God is still in his place."

4:20:01 PM