~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

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Vietnam refuses to allow EU delegation to visit detained religious figures

HANOI - Vietnam's communist government has refused to allow a delegation from the European Parliament to visit several detained religious figures, European officials said Tuesday. Last year, the European Parliament passed a resolution directing the delegation to meet with detained religious leaders and appraise religious freedom in Vietnam.

The delegation, currently in Hanoi to attend a meeting of Southeast Asian lawmakers, asked to meet with two leaders of the outlawed United Buddhist Church of Vietnam, Thich Quang Do and Thich Huyen Quang, and dissident Catholic priest Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly, European diplomats said. All three requests were denied, they said.

Vietnam's ruling Communist Party says its citizens enjoy religious freedom and insists it holds no prisoners of conscience. But it forbids any independent organizations that might challenge its political and social control, and only allows religious groups which accept communist control. Mainstream Buddhist and Catholic denominations have agreed to communist control and are thriving. But restrictions remain tight against other non-approved groups, such as the United Buddhist Church.

Thich Quang Do, a nominee for last year's Nobel Peace Prize, has been under house arrest in his monastery in Ho Chi Minh City since last year, when he announced plans to escort the church's ailing patriarch, Thich Huyen Quang, to doctors for medical treatment. Quang, 84, who suffers from high blood pressure, arthritis and stomach ulcers, has been under house arrest since 1992.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh said the European delegation was not allowed to meet with Do "because he is currently being under investigation by responsible agencies." "We believe that the European delegation understands Vietnam's point of view, and we do not think that it will affect the developing bilateral relations between Vietnam and the European Parliament as well as with the European Union ( news - web sites)," she said in a statement. European diplomats said the impact of the refusal would depend on the European Parliament's response.

Last October, Vietnam sentenced Father Ly to 15 years in prison on charges he undermined the country's unity and violated a detention order. Ly had urged in testimony to a U.S. government committee that the United States delay ratification of a bilateral trade agreement until Vietnam eases restrictions on religion. Last September, Ho Tan Anh, a 61-year-old farmer and a leader of the Buddhist Youth Movement in central Vietnam, burned himself to death to protest restrictions on his group. The Buddhist Youth Movement was founded in the late 1930s by the Unified Buddhist Church.

In February last year, thousands of members of ethnic minority groups protested in the Central Highlands over government control, land grievances and restrictions on their non-approved Protestant churches.

The Associated Press - September 10, 2002