Vietnamese Christians starved, beaten for their faith

Christians from the persecuted minority Hmong tribe in Vietnam have been telling Release International how they were jailed and beaten to try to make them renounce their faith.

The plight of other Christians in Vietnam is graphically described in the latest edition of Witness magazine from Release International, which serves the persecuted church worldwide.

A team of investigators from Release International found that some of the harshest persecution in Vietnam is reserved for the ethnic Hmong people, who sided with the United States in the Vietnam War. The authorities regard evangelical Christianity as an American export intended to undermine the communist revolution.

'Stephen' and 'Paul', whose names have been changed for security reasons, described the brutal treatment meted out to them in jail as the authorities tried to force them to give up their faith.

Stephen believes the authorities murdered his brother because he refused to stop telling others about his Christian faith. The authorities jailed Stephen for three years, leaving his wife to labour in the fields and bring up their seven children on her own.

"The reason they beat my brother was because he did not deny Jesus Christ. They beat him and he died," says Stephen. He says the authorities then beat him, too, threw him out of his own home and banished him from his village.

In jail, Stephen was given hard labour, breaking rocks. If he failed to complete his quota he was beaten.

He could have taken the easy way out to avoid a jail sentence. Before being imprisoned he was told that if he signed a document renouncing his faith he could go free. But he refused.

"I never denied Jesus. Never," he said.

"I believe that even if I die I will still put my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord never, never left me. Every day, when I breathe the air, I trust in the Lord."

Paul, also a Hmong Christian, described being jailed for sharing Christianity with his people. He was imprisoned for more than a decade for spreading the religion. It was the second time he had been jailed for his faith.

Paul told Release International that the authorities beat him severely to try to get him to deny his faith, but he continued telling other prisoners about Jesus in the jail.

"They said that because I had been preaching the Gospel for my people, that is why they came for me. And because some of the Hmong had believed the Lord because of my mouth, they beat me in prison."

Paul was also given the opportunity to renounce his faith. He was told if he signed a paper he could go free.

His reply was clear and to the point: "I said to them even if you nail me like Jesus Christ to the cross I will still not deny him. You can do to me exactly like Jesus Christ and I will still be happy.

"Sometimes I thought I would die, but after that the Lord give me more strength so I could complete the course. That's why after a few years, they didn't beat me anymore."

Both prisoners described being severely malnourished in jail. "The worst thing about prison always starving, always wanting to eat something," said Stephen. On one occasion Paul was so hungry he picked up and ate a live frog - knowing it to be poisonous.

He explains: "In the first seven years I never saw my family, they never visited me and I was very, very hungry. Every day I got one bowl of rice and not enough vegetables. That's why I ate the frog.

"The reason I got poisoned was because if somebody eats a frog they should take out all the insides, but I ate all of it."

Both men run the risk of further imprisonment yet Paul and Stephen continue to share their faith. "I am never frightened about what will happen in the future for me," says Paul, "because I understand that the Lord is with me and many, many people around the world are praying for me."

The head of Release International, Andy Dipper, said, "Please pray for these former prisoners, that the Lord will protect them and their families. And pray that Vietnam will stop confusing the Christian faith with politics and will grant full freedom of religion."

Release International and its partners are supporting families of prisoners of faith in Vietnam. Release is providing food, pastoral and medical aid, and supporting prisoners when they come out of jail.