Vietnam expels norwegian lawmaker for visit to dissidents
HANOI - A Norwegian parliament member was detained and expelled from Vietnam last week after he visited several
leading religious dissidents, Norwegian officials said Tuesday.
Lars Rise, a member of the opposition Christian People's Party, was detained and then "escorted out of the country" last
Wednesday, said Karsten Klepsvik, spokesman for Norway's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo.
Rise was in the country on a tourist visa, not as part of a government delegation, he said.
"It's our understanding that Vietnamese authorities said he had contact with members of the opposition without going through
the correct processes," Klepsvik said.
Klepsvik said Rise hasn't asked Norway to take any action against Vietnam, and "we don't plan for any action."
"It seems to us that Mr. Rise has not followed the rules and regulations that Vietnamese authorities are applying to these
circumstances," he said.
Rise released a statement dated Saturday on the Free Vietnam Alliance Web site detailing his detention and interrogation by
police after visits to Buddhist leader Thich Quang Do in Ho Chi Minh City and Catholic priest Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly in Hue,
both of whom are pictured with Rise on the Web site.
Rise said he met Do, deputy leader of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, April 8.
The following day, Rise flew to Hue to meet with other UBCV leaders, as well as dissident Catholic priest Ly.
Rise said Ly told him he has been under constant surveillance at his church, had his phone disconnected and had no access to
e-mail or regular mail.
Ly has been vilified by Vietnam's state-controlled media in recent months for urging the U.S. to link Vietnam's human rights
record to the ratification of a pending bilateral trade agreement.
In his statement, Rise said the church was surrounded by 100 police during the meeting and he was arrested and interrogated
for more than six hours. A second interrogation the next day lasted five hours, he said.
Rise said his group was then escorted to Danang, sent back to Ho Chi Minh City by plane, and then escorted out of the
country.
"We do not appreciate the way we have been treated by Vietnamese authorities and we will now report the incident to the
Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Rise said in his statement.
"Vietnam has signed the international convention on human rights and we are concerned about how the paragraphs in the
convention are being followed up," he said.
Norway has talked to Vietnamese authorities in the past about establishing a formal human rights dialogue, Klepsvik said.
"It would be a way to discuss all aspects of human rights and serights situation in that country," he said.
The Associated Press - April 17, 2001.
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