US embassy cable - 05HANOI2073

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