Fr Nguyen Van Ly arrested in Hue
The priest was arrested after a building that is part of the Bishop’s Palace compound was searched. Known for his battles in favour of freedom of religion, he has already spent ten years in prison.
HUE– Some reports indicate that Fr Nguyen Van Ly, a clergyman who spent ten years in jail for defending freedom of religion, has been arrested. According to the Vietnam News Agency, the authorities searched his home on Sunday on suspicion that he committed acts that violated the law.
A source close to Father Ly told Églises d’Asie that around 7 pm on Sunday, several police vehicles arrived new the Nha Chung building which is part of the Bishop’s Palace, home to the bishop himself and several priests, Father Ly included.
Around 8 pm the building was surrounded by some 60 officers and the phone lines were cut. A team of agents led by a colonel specialised in religious affairs entered the premises and searched Father Ly’s room, breaking into a cupboard he had refused to unlock.
The archbishop’s secretary was present as a witness.
Six laptop computers and six cellphones belonging to Father Ly and his aides were confiscated along with many documents.
Father Ly, who said he was going on a hunger strike, answered all the questions he was asked with each answer signed by himself and the witness.
A few days earlier, on the night between February 16 and 17, the Eve of the Lunar New Year (Tet), the homes of Father Ly’s aides Nguyen Phong and Nguyen Binh Thanh, were also searched.
Both men were taken away and at present nothing is known about their fate.
AsiaNews (.it) - February 21, 2007.
Fears that Hanoi’s opening to the Vatican only a manoeuvre
Catholic circles in Vietnam are convinced that the government does not truly accept religious freedom, but is using its ‘openness’ to harness more foreign investments. The authorities are trying to pit Catholics against believers of other religions as well as against one another.
HANOI – Catholic circles in Vietnam are concerned that Hanoi’s favourable view towards establishing diplomatic relations with the Holy See, expressed for instance in Prime Minister Nguy?n T?n Dung’s January 25 visit to the Vatican, may simply reflect a desire to increase foreign investments in the country as well as a divide and rule strategy that would pit Catholics against other religions and against one another.
“Perhaps,” said Father Paul, “Hanoi thinks that relations with the Vatican are like those with any other state. They are considering what advantages they can get. They are engaged in a political operation but not in favour of Vietnamese Catholics.”
“The prime minister,” noted Franciscan Father John, “cannot do differently from the ways of the Communist Party. Catholics have always been opposed by the regime.”
Mr Hung, a Hanoi doctor, said the government has just released a white paper on The Law of Religions, a document in the service of the government rather than the people.
“Their propaganda in favour of religious freedom in Vietnam is designed to get more foreign investment to develop the economy and stabilise their power,” he said.
“I was really surprised when I heard that the government wants to establish diplomatic relations with the Vatican. Whilst the Vietnamese Bishops’ Council cannot make any decisions, the Communist Party and its Religious Affairs Committee can,” he added.
“The government is deliberately trying to pit Catholics against other believers,” a young man told AsiaNews. “They would also like to split Catholics, especially the bishops. This way, government officials, agencies and party members can say that Catholics are divided.”
“Vietnam’s Catholics and people in general need religious freedom,” said Ms Hang, a woman from Phat Diem. “We are still discriminated and oppressed, but we are always capable to maintain our faith.”
By Nguyen Tan Dung - AsiaNews (.it) - February 21, 2007.
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