Vietnam frees jailed Fr. Ly ahead of Obama's visit
Vietnam granted early release
from prison to Fr. Nguyen Van Ly who was arrested for promoting political and
religious freedoms in the communist nation.
Fr. Nguyen Van Ly’s release
is seen as a goodwill gesture before U.S. President Barack Obama’s arrival on
an official visit late Sunday night.
Father Ly is considered to be
a most prominent dissidents in Vietnam.The Catholic Archdiocese of the
central city of Hue reported on its webpage that it welcomed the return Friday
of 70-year-old Father Nguyen Van Ly from prison. Photos on its website showed a
frail Ly being helped off a minibus, kneeling to pay his respects to his senior
colleagues, then being led to a room prepared for him at the diocese. He has
suffered several health crises while imprisoned.
Ly has served several long
terms in prison or under house arrest for promoting political and religious
freedoms in the communist nation. He has been serving an eight-year prison term
since March 2007 after being convicted of spreading propaganda against the
state. He was first jailed in 1977, two years after the Communist takeover of
all Vietnam.
Vietnam's persecution of
dissidents has been a roadblock to warmer relations with the United States,
from which it is seeking the lifting of an arms embargo. Washington and Hanoi
share a strategic interest in challenging Chinese territorial claims in the
South China Sea, some of which are in areas long claimed by Vietnam.
The government's relations
have always been strained with the Catholic church, associated with French
colonial rule and the former anti-communist South Vietnam, as well as an
influential power base independent of the ruling Communist Party's control.
The U.S. State Department
said it welcomed the amnesty for Ly.
"We consistently have
called for the release of Father Ly and all other prisoners of conscience in
Vietnam," said Gabrielle Price, the department's spokeswoman for East Asia
and Pacific affairs. "We remain deeply concerned for all prisoners of
conscience in Vietnam. We call on the government to release unconditionally all
prisoners of conscience and allow all Vietnamese to express their political
views peacefully without fear of retribution."
More than a dozen human
rights groups last month sent an appeal to President Obama urging him to press
Hanoi to release political prisoners.
The appeal, whose signees
included Human Rights Watch as well as groups focusing on Vietnam, urged him
"to make clear, both in private and in public, that (the) U.S.-Vietnamese
relationship will not fundamentally advance absent meaningful human rights
improvements, including the release of imprisoned activists, and end to
harassment of civil society groups, and respect for international law."
(AP)
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