Vietnamese Police Arrest Christians For Passing Out Tracts

by Fred Jackson and Jenni Parker
December 11, 2003

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(AgapePress) - A report from Vietnam indicates that 19 Christians have been arrested there for distributing leaflets during the Southeast Asian Games in Ho Chi Minh City.

WorldNetDaily reports that the group of Christians, which included a Protestant pastor, were arrested by Vietnamese police on Tuesday, and all but four remain in custody. The whereabouts of two ministers and two assistants is currently unknown.

The leaflets the Vietnamese Christians were distributing contained a schedule for the games and invitations to readers to consider following Jesus Christ. Nguyen Hong Quang, one of the arrested ministers, said in a telephone interview with Radio Free Asia that he and the other Christians are being persecuted for their beliefs.

Quang has staged a hunger strike in the former Saigon district of the city, and is asking to meet with local police in order to pursue the release of the detainees, a public apology, and an end to religious persecution in Vietnam.

Last month the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution that urged the Vietnamese government "to respect the right of all independent religious organizations to meet, worship, operate and practice their faith in accordance with Vietnam's own constitution and international covenants."

The resolution also calls upon the communist regime to restore the freedom of all Vietnamese citizens that are "imprisoned or under house arrest for practicing their faith or for advocating freedom of religion."

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom welcomed the congressional resolution, noting that Vietnam's government has repeatedly shown its determination to suppress its people's religious freedom. The U.S. Embassy in Vietnam has been instructed to monitor cases of abuse and report to Congress on measures taken to protect and promote religious freedom in that country.