Vietnam defends treatment of Buddhist monks
Vietnam says two Buddhist monks accused of possessing state secrets are not being detained but they are being investigated.
Ngo Yen Thi, chairman of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs, which oversees religious activity in Vietnam, says the issue centres on violations of the law, not the repression of religion.
The monks are members of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam.
Mr Thi says the monks have held meetings without permission, obstructed law enforcement officials, and been found in possession of 'forbidden' documents.
But he says they are not being held in detention or under house arrest.
Church patriarch, 86 year-old Thich Huyen Quang, and his deputy 74 year-old Thich Quang Do are now in separate monasteries.
Hanoi replaced the UBCV with a state-sanctioned group in 1981.
Today, the United States ambassador at large for international religious freedom, John Hanford, begins a visit to Vietnam.
He is expected to assess claims of persecution by the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam and the treatment of three relatives of a dissident Catholic priest, who have received jail sentences.
ABC Radio Australia News - October 17, 2003.
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