Report: Vietnam Christians suffer imprisonment, land confiscation by government

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The California-based rights group Vietnam Human Rights Network (VHRN) has published its 2020-2021 report, asserting that Vietnamese Christians are suffering persecution, including imprisonment and land confiscation at the hands of the country’s communist government, ICC reports.

VHRN informed that, in addition to other recorded abuses, Vietnamese authorities are detaining at least 288 prisoners of conscience, including 33 Protestant Christians, International Christian Concern reports.

During the course of 2020, the Vietnamese government often wielded the 2003 Land Law against Christians, ICC reports. This legislation gives authorities the right to confiscate church properties and control Vietnamese believers. For example, the VHRN report said, in March 2020 police in Gia Lai province arrested three unregistered Hà Mòn Christian pastors, seizing materials that the government said were propaganda and anti-state.

This year, the government seized land and educational facilities belonging to the Thi Nghe and My Loc parishes, and destroyed a school building belonging to the Tuy Hoa Protestant Church, the VHRN report noted.

According to the VHRN report, Vietnam’s prisoners of conscience also include political activists, journalists, and land rights advocates, ICC said. “Vietnam continues to violate fundamental human rights, from discrimination, arbitrary arrest and detention, and violation of trial fairness to restrict freedom of religion, freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of association, etc,” VHRN said in its report.

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