Tag: Vietnam

Court upholds Vietnamese Christian blogger’s 5-year jail sentence

January 18, 2018 Vietnam Corruption, Nguyen Van Oai, Vietnam

A Vietnamese provincial court on Tuesday upheld the five-year jail sentence of Christian blogger and activist Nguyen Van Oai. Van Oai was sentenced at the People’s Court in the town Hoàng Mai in September to a five-year jail term and four years’ house arrest for resisting a public official and . . . Read More

US State Department adds Pakistan to religious-freedom watch list

January 5, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Central African Republic, China, Eritrea, Iran, Minorities, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Russia, Sanctions, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, USA, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

Burial of victims of a suicide attack on the Methodist Bethel Church in Quetta, Pakistan, on Sunday 17 December 2017 in which at least 9 people were killed. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The US State Department has placed Pakistan on a “Special Watch List” for severe violators of religious freedom, it announced yesterday (4 January) with the publication of its annual list of ‘Countries of Particular Concern’. The announcement comes as the US government cuts security aid to Pakistan, saying the country . . . Read More

Vietnam: Catholic blogger’s 9-year prison sentence upheld

January 3, 2018 Vietnam Catholics, Hanoi, Maria Tran Thi Nga, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, Vietnam

Catholic rights activist and blogger Maria Tran Thi Nga has had her nine-year prison sentence upheld following an appeal hearing at the Supreme Court in the capital city, Hanoi, reports Asia News. Only three of Nga’s lawyers were able to attend the hearing. Her husband and family members were detained . . . Read More

Vietnam: Church told to take down Christmas nativity scene

December 19, 2017 Vietnam Catholics, Ho Chi Minh City, Human rights, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, Religion Law, Religious freedom, Vietnam

St Joseph's Cathedral in Vietnam's capital Hanoi also faced challenges over ownership of the land next to the church which led to protests in 2008. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

One of the highlights at this time of year for the citizens of Communist Vietnam is to go to see often highly elaborate temporary ‘constructions’ showing the Nativity scene of Christ’s birth which local Christians build onto their churches or homes. There are, for instance, whole streets of such scenes . . . Read More

Vietnam: Catholic blogger loses appeal against 10-year sentence for ‘anti-state reports’

December 4, 2017 Vietnam Catholics, Human rights, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, Southeast Asia, Vietnam

A Vietnamese Catholic blogger has failed in her attempt to overturn a 10-year prison sentence for writing “anti-state reports”. Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, 38, better known as ‘Me Nam’ (Mother Mushroom), is a member of the US-based activist group Viet Tan, which funded one of her environmental campaigns. Her blogging . . . Read More

Vietnam’s religion policy and practice – contradictions continue

November 23, 2017 Vietnam Binh Phuoc, Catholics, Central Highlands, Communism, Evangelical Church of Vietnam, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Protestants, Religion Law, Religious freedom, Vietnam

Optimists are hard to find ahead of Vietnam’s impending introduction of its new Law on Belief and Religion, scheduled to come into effect on 1 January, 2018. Vietnam’s Catholic and Evangelical leaders, as well as Buddhists and Caodaists, say the main benefit of the law, two years in the making, . . . Read More

The ‘remarkable religious transformation’ of Vietnam’s Hmong

November 16, 2017 Vietnam Central Highlands, Converts, Hmong, Religion Law, Vietnam

Christianity started spreading among the Hmong in the highlands of northwest and central Vietnam in the late 1980s through a Hmong-language Christian radio program broadcast from Manila and has led to “a remarkable religious transformation … in the past three decades”, according to academic Seb Rumsby, writing for The Diplomat. Among . . . Read More

Vietnam told to release prisoners of conscience

November 9, 2017 Vietnam Human rights, Maria Tran Thi Nga, Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, Nguyen Van Oai, Southeast Asia, Vietnam

Freedom of expression in Vietnam is not a given. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A group of 17 NGOs has called for the release of detained bloggers and human rights activists in Vietnam, the country Amnesty said last year had the highest number of prisoners of conscience in Southeast Asia. In July, there were more than 90 prisoners of conscience in Vietnam’s jails, according . . . Read More

More than 80 countries ‘favour’ one religion over others – Pew Research Center

October 5, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Apostasy, Armenians, Assyrians, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Cambodia, Central Asia, China, Comoros, Converts, Cuba, India, Iran, Islamic extremism, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Maldives, Mauritania, Middle East, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Africa, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Soviet Union, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

Over 80 countries favour a specific religion, either officially as a state religion or tacitly through special treatment, according to a new report by the US-based Pew Research Center. Islam is the most common state religion – 27 countries have it as their official religion, including 16 of the 20 . . . Read More

ASEAN nations told to ‘end blasphemy laws that inspire violence’

October 4, 2017 ASEAN, Blasphemy, Borneo, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Religious freedom, Sharia, Singapore, Southeast Asia, Sunni, Thailand, USA, Vietnam

A right for all - USCIRF report on ASEAN nations

On its 50th anniversary, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should repeal blasphemy laws, release prisoners of conscience and strengthen interfaith relationships, says the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). In a new report, USCIRF highlights regional “arrests, detentions, and imprisonments based on religious belief, practice, or activities, . . . Read More

Catching Our Eye