Vietnam

Two Christian activists who had previously served prison sentences were both beaten and detained in Vietnam’s Central Highlands last month.

Christian leaders in Vietnam are opposed to a proposed state law that would further increase restrictions on all their activities, requiring a permit for each and every circumstance, according to BarnabasAid.

Authorities in southern Laos pressure three jailed pastors and other Christians to participate in occult rituals and recant their faith in Jesus Christ, a religious advocacy group said.

Congressman Frank Wolf has called for the immediate dismissal of America’s ambassador to Vietnam after showing little concern for the importance of human rights in that country, according to International Christian Concern.

Vietnamese officials in Dien Bien Province recently destroyed two new church buildings belonging to minority Hmong Christians.

Vietnamese security forces have destroyed two churches of minority Hmong Christians in northwestern Vietnam and threaten to tear down a third, a Christian news agency said Wednesday June 27.

A mob of men attacked leaders of a Baptist house church near Hanoi Sunday, seriously injuring a pastor and several others, including women and teenage children.

An attack against minority Christians living in the central highlands of Vietnam in July left 16 men and women severely injured with one man still under arrest, according to International Christian Concern.

Vietnamese security forces beheaded pastors and shot to death “many” other Hmong Christians who gathered to await Christ’s return after a false prophecy by an American preacher, according to a leading advocacy group’s leader.

Christian rights campaigners on Wednesday, June 15, demanded the immediate release of seven Vietnamese activists, including three Christians, who were convicted of “attempting to overthrow the government” and jailed to between two and eight years.

International evangelist Luis Palau travels to Vietnam to participate in the country’s first Protestant church founding celebrations since the end of the Vietnam War.

Christians of house churches and other non-recognized groups prepared Friday, December 24, for a tense Christmas, after security forces halted Christmas celebrations and detained believers in several areas of Vietnam, Vietnamese Christians and rights investigators said.

Back in August, the Vietnamese government initiated a massive military operation involving thousands of soldiers, security forces and local police in what they called “tieu quet” to “wipe out” Degar Christians who refused to join the Evangelical Church of Vietnam.

Eight arrested Christians remained in Vietnamese police custody Sunday, August 29, after a violent government crackdown on Christian villagers in which one person was killed and several others injured, including a pregnant woman who lost her child, rights activists said.

There was international concern Monday, May 31, that the widow of a murdered Vietnamese Christian will be forced to give up her children to the Communist-run state, rights activists said.