Vietnam to release four dissidents on EU list of 'prisoners of conscience'
Vietnam is expected to release four dissidents named on a European Union list of "prisoners of conscience", an EU diplomatic source said Friday.
"The Vietnamese ministry of foreign affairs called us in an informed us" of the pending release, the European diplomat said.
"We told them that it was a welcome gesture. In an ideal world we'd like to see all the prisoners named on our list released," he added, without saying how many prisoners are on the EU roster.
Among the four are Catholic priest Father Nguyen Van Ly, 59, and political dissident Nguyen Dan Que, 63, who had expected to see freedom in September.
The other two prisoners to be amnestied in time for the Vietnamese traditional New Year beginning February 8 are Huynh Van Ba, a member of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, and another dissident jailed in 1993, Nguyen Dinh Huy.
No immediate confirmation of the release was available Friday from Vietnamese authorities. Officials are expected Monday to hold a press conference on the New Year's amnesties, which Vietnamese media has numbered at more than 8,200 prisoners.
The four named Friday are all well-known critics of Vietnam's communist government, which keeps an iron grip on the press and often stifles dissent with long prison sentences.
Father Ly was sentenced in October 2001 to 15 years in prison and five years after that of house arrest after being convicted of state sabotage for sending a letter to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.
His sentence was reduced to 10 years in 2003 and then to five in June, amid criticism of Hanoi's treatment of religious dissidents.
The other religious dissident in the group, Huynh Van Ba, who is also known as Nguyen Thien Minh, 50, was originally sentenced to life in March 1987 for "attempting to overthrow the people's government", but had his sentence reduced to 20 years.
Vietnam has been repeatedly criticised by Washington, which calls it one of the world's worst offenders of religious freedoms. It has also been targeted by international rights groups for harassing dissidents.
Hguyen Dinh Huy, 72, was arrested in 1993 with 11 other members of a political group and sentenced two years later to 15 years in prison.
Internet dissident Nguyen Dan Que was given a 30-month jail term for "abusing his democratic rights".
Amnesty had said his arrest was prompted by a statement he issued a few days earlier that was circulated on the Internet in which he said there was no freedom of information in the communist nation.
Agence France Presse - January 28, 2005.
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