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
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