Vietnamese Christians flee for their lives
Reports detail increase in persecution,
death threats
Posted: April 30, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
2005 WorldNetDaily.com
The government of Vietnam is stepping up persecution of minority
Christians, according to a Washington human rights monitor.
Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom says it recently received
detailed accounts of attacks against Hmong Christians, including death
threats prompting more than 100 to leave the country in the last two
months.
In the past, Hmong Christians, who have suffered persecution for more
than two decades, have reported beatings, torture, arrests and other
forms of brutality, including attacks against women and children.
Freedom House says the evidence consists of tape-recorded interviews,
handwritten testimony of Hmong leaders and documentation identifying
the names and positions of many of the Vietnamese officials implicated
in the persecution.
"Thirty years after the fall of Saigon, the intensity of the
persecution of Hmong ethnic minority Christians clearly indicates that
the communist government maintains its hostility to people of faith,"
said Center for Religious Freedom Director Nina Shea. "Whatever recent
legislative changes Vietnam has announced, they appear to provide no
improvement at all for the majority of Vietnam's Protestants who are
ethnic minorities in the northwest provinces and Central Highlands."
The U.S. designated Vietnam a "Country of Particular Concern" last
September for egregious religious persecution under the International
Religious Freedom Act.
The designation requires the president to take specific policy actions
within 90 days. The statute also allows for a 90-day extension, which
expired March 15, but the U.S. still has not taken any action.
Freedom House provided excerpts from reports by two prominent Hmong
Christians, covering the last decade up to a few weeks ago.
Information that would identify the Christians has been redacted for
security reasons. Freedom House notes Vietnamese agents in the past
have abducted Hmong refugees from neighboring countries and brought
them back for prosecution in Vietnam
Mr. "A" writes:
"I went to Hanoi and was given four Bibles and four hymnals for our
church. Our church had 25 households comprising 213 members believing
in God. Somebody reported to the local government that we had Bibles
and hymnals. This time the persecution was horrible. The border guards
came with ropes and handcuffs and they bound together and handcuffed
all the women and children and took them to _____Village in _____
Commune, in _____ Province, They all were beaten cruelly for seven
days and nights at _____.
During this time, the border guards came to our houses and killed and
ate all our poultry and pigs. They made all of us, adults as well as
children, pay a fine of 200,000 VN Dong each …. Many were beaten until
their mouths and nostrils bled.
[The church leaders] were put in shackles, handcuffs and fetters for
three days and nights. Their families brought them rice and water but
the border guards did not allow them to eat or drink. Each day they
allowed them to eat only two small bowls of rice and drink one bowl of
water. Even at night they were not allowed to have the shackles taken
off. The border guards said, ’They are asking for help from their God,
let us see if their God is going to help them or not’
Later we went to Hanoi to appeal to higher authorities there. Hanoi
Police told us that Christianity is not the religion of the Hmong.
It's the American religion. We must get out of it or they will put all
of us in jail.
When the people in the local government knew that we went to Hanoi to
appeal, they continued to arrest many men, put them in shackles, and
poured water into their nostrils. Their goal was to torture us so that
we would renounce our belief but we are determined to die if necessary
but never will we apostatize….
All our Bibles, hymnals and worship materials had been seized by the
police in 1997. But I still had an old Bible and in July 1998 I took
it to the city to make some photocopies for our church. Police caught
me photocopying so they put me in jail for seven days. During these
seven days I was beaten so badly that my body swelled all over and
blood gushed out of my nose and mouth. They seized my Bible and all
the photocopies and ordered me to pay a fine of 600,000 VN Dong….
[In late 2001] Police threatened us and told us that if we refused to
abandon our God they would never leave us alone…. Then they forced me
to take off all my clothes and stand against a wall with my two hands
up. After three hours, they brought in rocks from the road and ordered
me to kneel down on the rocks for three more hours then asked if I
wanted to abandon my belief or not? I said, ‘I would rather die than
abandon my God.’ They were very angry, they put me in prison and
continued doing the same torture for seven days but I still refused to
abandon my God.
The Police then took a rubber stick and beat me for hours but I still
refused to deny my belief. They took me to jail for three days. They
told people in the jail that I was very stubborn, and that they would
teach me a lesson…they took ...(words not clear) and they burnt it and
let it drop one by one on my legs. It was very painful and I also felt
excruciating pain in my stomach for one month. I could not urinate and
almost died in prison. They gave me two small bowls of rice and two
small cups of water only. My family was not allowed to visit me.
Whatever they did I refused to abandon my God. Three months later they
let me go. I could not walk but had to move with my hands and
buttocks. My body was nothing but bones. The Police told me, "If we do
not kill you, someday you will kill us. If we do not find some way to
kill you, you will grow stronger, you will rebel against us and call
the Americans to invade Vietnam.” They then got enraged and started to
beat me again until I was covered with blood from my nose and mouth.
The second account from a Hmong Christian refugee, hiding in a
neighboring country, was relayed to a Freedom House source in just the
last couple of weeks.
Mr. "B," said,
During one imprisonment they dripped hot melting plastic on to my
penis. I could not urinate for 20 days. They used a heavy sandal to
hit my ears- each ear ten blows. I could not hear at all for a month
and now have difficulty hearing. I was regularly beaten by the
security police and by prisoners who they rewarded because I would not
recant my faith in Jesus Christ.
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| User: "Woodswun" |
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| Title: Re: Vietnamese Christians flee for their lives |
30 Apr 2005 01:02:18 PM |
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wrote:
Vietnamese Christians flee for their lives
Reports detail increase in persecution,
death threats
The article is very poorly written. It seems to imply that this is an
ethnic issue, only referring to ethnic Hmong Christians, and fails to
indicate that any other ethnic groups are similarly persecuted. It also
fails to indicate whether this is across Christian denominations or
involves a single group. It *could* be a David Koresh type of situation
- there's no way to tell from the way this story is written.
Woods
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Vietnamese Christians flee for their lives |
01 May 2005 10:46:45 AM |
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Woods wrote:
itwill@happen.com wrote:
Vietnamese Christians flee for their lives
Reports detail increase in persecution,
death threats
The article is very poorly written. It seems to imply that this is an
ethnic issue, only referring to ethnic Hmong Christians, and fails to
indicate that any other ethnic groups are similarly persecuted. It also
fails to indicate whether this is across Christian denominations or
involves a single group. It *could* be a David Koresh type of situation
- there's no way to tell from the way this story is written.
Woods
Your hatred of Christians is quite clear.
Tony
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| User: "Woodswun" |
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| Title: Re: Vietnamese Christians flee for their lives |
01 May 2005 10:54:10 AM |
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wrote:
Woods wrote:
wrote:
Vietnamese Christians flee for their lives
Reports detail increase in persecution,
death threats
The article is very poorly written. It seems to imply that this is an
ethnic issue, only referring to ethnic Hmong Christians, and fails to
indicate that any other ethnic groups are similarly persecuted. It also
fails to indicate whether this is across Christian denominations or
involves a single group. It *could* be a David Koresh type of situation
- there's no way to tell from the way this story is written.
Woods
Your hatred of Christians is quite clear.
Bzzzt. Oh, so sorry - no points this round! The correct response, of
course, was "You're contempt for poor writing is quite clear."
Thanks so much for playing, though!
Woods
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| User: "Marvin The Paranoid Android`" |
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| Title: Re: Vietnamese Christians flee for their lives |
01 May 2005 11:45:26 AM |
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Woodswun wrote:
itwill@happen.com wrote:
Woods wrote:
itwill@happen.com wrote:
Vietnamese Christians flee for their lives
Reports detail increase in persecution, death threats
The article is very poorly written. It seems to imply that this is
an ethnic issue, only referring to ethnic Hmong Christians, and fails
to indicate that any other ethnic groups are similarly persecuted.
It also fails to indicate whether this is across Christian
denominations or involves a single group. It *could* be a David
Koresh type of situation - there's no way to tell from the way this
story is written.
Woods
Your hatred of Christians is quite clear.
Bzzzt. Oh, so sorry - no points this round! The correct response, of
course, was "You're contempt for poor writing is quite clear."
Thanks so much for playing, though!
Woods
Johnny, what's our consolation prize for Tony?
Well, Woods, it's an all expense paid trip to the public library where
Tony will be given free access to fabulous amounts of information to
help him pry open his narrow mind!
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