_WORLD WATCH______________________________
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Rising pressure on believers
Buddhist protestor in fiery suicide
In Vietnam more people are giving vent to their anger at restrictions on human rights, particularly religious freedom, according to the Fides news service. The Vatican-based agency reported that some protests against the government have resulted in violence. Late in March, for example, Nguyen Thi Thu, a 75-year-old Buddhist, committed suicide by setting herself ablaze to protest the detention of the Hoa Hao Buddhist sect leader, Le Quang Liem.
The suicide, which took place during a gathering by several hundred Hoa Hao followers in a village in the Mekong Delta to demand more religious freedom, is a signal of growing desperation among Vietnamese believers. The exiled Overseas Hoa Hao Buddhist Association, based in the US, said Thu’s last words were, “Religious freedom for Vietnam!”
The Hoa Hao sect, which claims about four million adherents in Vietnam, is recognized officially by Hanoi, but it is looked on with suspicion due to its armed opposition to Communism during the Vietnam War and because for years it has demanded freedom for human rights. Le Quang Liem, his deputy, and several supporters were arrested just before the anniversary of the abduction of Hoa Hao prophet Huynh Phu So by Communist forces in 1947.
Liem’s arrest came just weeks after he joined three other religious leaders—two Buddhists and two Catholics—to form the Vietnam Interfaith Council to promote religious freedom. One of the three, Redemptorist Father Thaddeus Nguyen Van Ly, was also detained after urging the US Congress not to ratify a trade pact with Vietnam because of constant rights violations in the country. Vietnam’s official army newspaper, Quan Doi Nhan, said the priest is “a traitor of the people.” Father Van Ly had been under rigid police control since his release in 1992 from ten years in prison.