Protestants in northern and central Vietnam continue to be pressured to renounce their faith by local authorities, despite the ban of religious persecution by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai two months ago. According to a story by ASSIST News Service (ANS), incidents have been described by Protestants from Lao-Kai, Thai Binh, and Gia Lai provinces that church members have been harassed or assaulted by local authorities.
In an article reported by Radio Free Asia's Vietnamese service, local officials were interviewed by RFA reporters but they denied any assaults. Allegations that the Vietnamese central government authorises religious persecution or harassment have been rejected.
The Prime Minister Khai’s order instructed officials to "ensure that each citizen's freedom of religious and belief practice is observed [and] outlaw attempts to force people to follow a religion or to deny their religion," reports the article.
The report asserts that the New York-based Human Rights Watch said only churches that have carried out "pure religious activities" since 1975 can register for official authorisation, while registration requirements have loosened up. It eradicates Montagnard house churches which have started in the late 1980s and early 90s in the Central Highlands.
The article says: "One group of Protestants in the northern province of Lao-Kai, bordering China, were beaten and had their rice fields confiscated in April after they refused to break with their church, according to Protestants who say they were among those targeted."
"They told me, 'The prime minister’s decree applies only to the area around Hanoi, not remote areas. Tell the prime minister to come here with the decree, and we will solve the problem,' " said Giang-A Tinh, 27, a minority Hmong from Ta-phin village in the Lao-Kai’s Sapa district.
Tinh travelled to Hanoi to complain to the central government and spoke to RFA's Vietnamese service from Hanoi. Local authorities "took all the rice fields of 12 families," he said.
Police and local officials had beaten Tinh on 23 April and 29 April, after he refused to give up his faith in writing. His mother and brother were also beaten, and his brother has been left bedridden.
"There are 45 protestant families in Ta-phin village. There are more in other villages but I don't know what happened to them," he told RFA. Another source confirmed that local authorities, led by village police chief Thao A Cau, confiscated land belonging to 12 Protestant families, said the article.
Tr’and-A-Cam, a Hmong Protestant of the same village, told RFA that he and three other villagers were beaten up after refusing to renounce their faith.
Tinh and Tr’and-A-Cam had fled to Hanoi to avoid more beatings and possible arrest, and to appeal for the central government to intercede.
