Vietnam to Release Christian Dissident, Over 5,300 Prisoners
Vietnam – a country long criticized for its religious freedom violations – has announced the scheduled release of a church leader from the Hmong ethnic minority along with over 5,300 prisoners as part of National Day amnesty on Saturday.
The case of Ma Van Bay has received widespread international pressure, particularly over recent months. Ma was first arrested along with three other church leaders in the context of local authorities harassing the church, according to U.K.-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
Ma was initially imprisoned in 1995 under “poorly substantiated charge,” in Ha Giang Province and escaped prison after six months. However, in 2003 he was rearrested and his sentenced doubled as a result of his escape after he was convicted of undermining Vietnam’s national unity in April 2004.
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CSW’s Advocacy Director, Tina Lambert, said on Thursday the organization is “delighted” to hear about the planned release of Ma Van Bay and hopes he will be free to rejoin his church community without difficulties. However, the group highlighted that Vietnamese authorities continue to suppress Christian activities in the country, especially among the Hmong and other ethnic minority groups.
Vietnam was designated a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for “systematic, ongoing, and egregious” religious freedom violations by the US State Department last year and is recommended for re-designation this year by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). CPC designation affects the U.S. government’s relations with these countries and can lead to sanctions against the religious freedom violators.
The Southeast Asian country hopes to be removed from the State Department’s CPC list and to establish Permanent Normal Trade Relations with the United States – one of the final obstacles before it can enter the World Trade Organization. Many groups have pointed out the likely correlation between the timeliness of Ma’s and other prisoners’ release closely following the visit of U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, John Hanford, to Vietnam.
However, the USCIRF and other religious freedom watchdogs have said although there has been some progress, Vietnam has not shown enough.
“In the past year, there has not yet been enough tangible progress on religious freedom concerns in Vietnam to warrant removal of the CPC designation and the Commission continues to recommend that the country be designated a CPC,” stated the USCIRF’s 2006 annual report.
Ma’s release coincides with that of well-known “cyber-dissident” Pham Hong Son and no more than two other prisoners of conscience. Some have criticized the release event for the low number of prisoners of conscience out of a total amnesty list of more than 5,300, which they comment show insufficient progress in the area of human rights.
CSW’s Lambert concluded, “As Vietnam strives to take its place on the world economic stage, we urge the Vietnamese government to treat the genuine religious freedom of its citizens as a matter of the utmost importance.”
The release of 5,352 prisoners marks the country’s 61st National Day which commemorates Ho Chi Minh’s 1945 declaration of independence from France.
