Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05HANOI2073
2005-08-12 11:22:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Hanoi
Cable title:  

MFA Delivers Information Sheet on Hoa Hao,

Tags:  KIRF PHUM VM ETMIN HUMANR RELFREE 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 002073 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV AND DRL/IRF

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KIRF PHUM VM ETMIN HUMANR RELFREE
SUBJECT: MFA Delivers Information Sheet on Hoa Hao,
Mennonites, Protestant churches

Reftel: A) HCMC 825 B) HCMC 762 and previous

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 002073

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV AND DRL/IRF

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KIRF PHUM VM ETMIN HUMANR RELFREE
SUBJECT: MFA Delivers Information Sheet on Hoa Hao,
Mennonites, Protestant churches

Reftel: A) HCMC 825 B) HCMC 762 and previous


1. (SBU) MFA Americas Department Deputy Director Nguyen Ba
Hung called in Pol/C on August 12 to hand over an
information sheet on recent incidents involving the Buddhist
Hoa Hao Church (Ref A),the Mennonites (Ref B) and
Protestant churches in Vietnam's Southwest. Hung said that
the GVN is concerned about a "campaign" being waged by
forces against Vietnam that seek to harm its reputation and
impede relations with the United States. The GVN is thus
attempting to fight back by providing as much information as
possible in a timely manner to counter propaganda and
fabrications. Text of the GVN's information sheet follows
in paragraph 2.


2. (SBU) Begin text of GVN information sheet (unofficial
Embassy translation).

Rejection of slanderous information regarding Vietnam's
suppression of Hoa Hao and Protestantism.

(1) During the past week, RFA, BBC, etc., continually
carried distorted information about Vietnam's violation of
religious freedom, especially its suppression of Hoa Hao and
Protestant followers in Vietnam's southwestern provinces.
They cited fabrications by several Hoa Hao Buddhists,
especially Le Quang Liem and the group of Catholic priests
Nguyen Van Ly, Chan Tin and others who denounced Vietnam for
its suppression, detention and torture of a number of Hoa
Hao monks and followers in An Giang and Dong Thap Provinces.
They even accused Vietnamese police of torturing to death
three Hoa Hao followers and severely injuring seven others
after they were arrested for spreading information that many
Hoa Hao followers had burned themselves on August 5, 2005,
and are currently on a hunger strike.

(2) The Hoa Hao Situation: On June 16, 2005, investigative
authorities initiated a formal investigation of a case of
"disturbing public order" in accordance with Article 245 of
the Penal Code. On August 5, 2005, the investigative police
of An Giang and Dong Thap Provinces initiated formal
investigations of and then put under detention six suspects,
namely Nguyen Van Dien, To Van Manh, Tran Van Ut, Vo Van
Buu, Mai Thi Dung (for disturbing public order) and Vo Van

Thanh Liem (for purposely harming others' health). These
suspects are all Hoa Hao Buddhists, who had assembled more
than 40 followers in Nhon My Commune, Cho Moi District, An
Giang Province, and disturbed public order, which made local
residents indignant. They even asked several individuals to
have gasoline available and threatened to burn themselves.
These acts violated the law and the formal investigation
into the case against the suspects was conducted in line
with procedures stipulated in the Criminal Procedures Code.

Two extremists, Tran Van Ut and Vo Van Buu, after resisting
law enforcement officials, used gas to burn themselves.
They were immediately taken to An Giang Provincial General
Hospital for emergency care, but Ut, who suffered third
degree burns, died on August 8, while Vo Van Buu is still
under treatment in An Giang Hospital. That said, only one
person died rather than four, as alleged in the press.
Furthermore, no one was tortured to death as reported by Le
Quang Liem, RFA and BBC over the past several days.

-- While the arrest warrants against the aforementioned six
individuals were being executed, three other individuals, Vo
Van Thanh Long, Nguyen Thanh Phong and Nguyen Thi Ha took
action against law enforcement officials, pouring gas onto
the road and lighting it on fire to prevent the police from
arresting the prisoners as well as preventing the police
from helping those who had set themselves on fire. Because
of such acts, they were arrested as well. In short, seven
people are being detained, one has died because of self-
immolation, and one is being treated for injuries from self-
immolation.

-- Le Quang Liem is not being detained. He has not been
prosecuted. The elements described above were detained
because of allegations of "disturbing public order".

(3) The Mennonite Situation: The People's Committee of
District 2 of Ho Chi Minh City recently demolished of part
of a house illegally constructed by Nguyen Hong Quang on
public property. The demolished area is 37.2 square meters.
Apart from Quang's family, six other families in the area
constructed buildings on public property, but they carried
out the demolition themselves as requested by the competent
authorities. Quang's family did not follow instructions,
which prompted the forced demolition. That was a common
practice, which was done in compliance with legal provisions
regarding illegal construction on public property.
Allegations that the Government demolished and disassembled
Menonite Protestant chapels are ill-willed fabrications.
The People's Committee of District 2 has actually informed
the US Consulate General of the incident.

(4) Protestantism: RFA's and BBC's reporting of the
incident has been one-sided and is not objective, which is
based on fabrications and distorted allegations by a group
of anti-Vietnam extremists. News about forced renunciations
by Protestants in Long An and Kien Giang are distorted
allegations aimed at staining Vietnam's image and its
policies of respecting freedom of religious practice.
Vietnamese laws, namely the Ordinance on Religion, the
Government Decree guiding the implementation of the
Ordinance on Religion and the Prime Minister's Instruction
on Protestantism contain stipulations that ban forced
denunciation of religious faith. Those documents have been
widely disseminated to local administrations and residents.

End text of information sheet.

MARINE