A Vietnamese Lutheran pastor currently serving an 11-year prison sentence after fighting for religious freedom was recently kept in isolation and prevented from contacting his family.
Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh, who was convicted in 2012 of "undermining national unity" was also reportedly given food mixed with glass and lead and covered in dead flies after requesting equal rights to other prisoners including a monthly phone call to family.
According to UCA News, authorities accused Chinh of inciting prisoners at Phuoc Prison in Binh Duong to go on hunger strike, demanding that they be allowed five minutes of speaking to their families on the phone each month, which other prisoners were allowed to do.
Chinh was transferred to another prison camp, where he was placed in isolation for allegedly leading the protest. His family was not made aware of the transfer, and his wife, human rights campaigner Tran Thi Hong, only found out when she visited him on December 12 when prison authorities told her Chinh was moved to Xuan Loc Prison in Dong Nai province.
"I arrived at Xuan Loc Prison the following day, and prison officials told me 'Chinh was not allowed to call his family or inform them that he had been relocated because he refused to accept his crimes,'" Hong told UCA News.
"I told them that my husband did not do anything wrong and that they treated him in an inhumane way," she added.
In October, Hong revealed that after her husband and the other prisoners asked that they be allowed their monthly phone call, prison authorities gave them food mixed with broken glass and lead, and sometimes dead flies. Their drinking water also reportedly smelled like it was mixed with insecticide.
All of Chin's belongings – including his Bible – were confiscated when he was transferred to Xuan Loc Prison.
"Prison officers have taken away all his belongings including a copy of the Bible. They also didn't allow him to get food, medicine and clothes from me," she said. "He is kept in a cell that is away from others, and given food through a small window two times a day."
Hong said her 50-year-old husband is in bad health. "He is in poor health, he suffers high blood pressure and has severe sinusitis," she said. "I fear that he is too weak to complete the rest of his sentence."
Vietnam is listed as number 20 on Open Doors' World Watch List of Christian persecution.
Vietnam's constitution guarantees freedom of religion in principle, but, like China, the Communist government tightly controls independent religious practice. According to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, it represses "individuals and religious groups it views as challenging its authority", including independent Buddhists, Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, and Christians.
Of the 93.4 million Vietnamese population more than half identifies with Buddhism. Roman Catholics make up 7 per cent, Cao Dai between 2.5 and 4 per cent; Hoa Hao, 1.5 to 3 per cent; and Protestants, 1 to 2 per cent.
