The Observatory has been informed by the International Buddhist Information Bureau (IBIB) that Thich Thien Minh, a member of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), has been subjected to continuous harassments by Security Police, since he was released in a government amnesty after 26 years in re-education camp (See Observatory Press Release, February 1, 2005). In particular, he has received repeated phone calls threatening him with death if he did not cease all contacts with overseas human rights organisations and if he did not stop denouncing Vietnam’s human rights and religious freedom violations in the foreign media.
According to the information received, Thich Thien Minh, who is currently living with his young brother and his family in the southern province of Bac Lieu, said that he was living in a state of permanent insecurity since his release on February 2, 2005. Security Police allegedly maintained his house under 24-hour surveillance, followed him everywhere and questioned all his visitors. Recently, Security agents placed a jamming machine in a nearby house to prevent him using a mobile phone. All his correspondence was confiscated.
Over the past two weeks, Thich Thien Minh said he had received numerous anonymous phone calls in the middle of the night from persons who threatened to beat him up or kill him. Some warned that he would be the victim of a “car accident”, then taken to hospital and injected with substances that would drive him mad, paralyse him or make him dumb. Others said he would be assaulted by gangs and beaten to death. Some of the calls, made by people speaking with Northern or Southern accents, also threatened Thich Thich Minh’s brother, Huynh Huu Nghia, who is teacher in a local school. They said that he would lose his job, and that they would hire local thugs to beat, maim or kill him and his wife.
On March 23, 2005, a delegation of Security officials from the Ministry of Public Security in Hanoi, headed by Mr. Tan, came to Bac Lieu and summoned Huynh Huu Nghia for questioning at a local hotel. On March 24, 2005, the delegation came to visit Thich Thien Minh at his brother’s home, along with a number of local Security officials. A member of the Hanoi delegation named Hiep brought a video camera and filmed the house meticulously. The Security officials told Thich Thien Minh to stop giving interviews to international radio stations and sending petitions overseas, specifically mentioning his Petition to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in which he urged the United States to maintain Vietnam on its list of “countries of particular concern” for violations of religious freedom, and appealed for the release of prisoners of conscience and the re-establishment of the legitimate status of the banned UBCV. They warned Thich Thien Minh that he must “bear the consequences” if the US enforced sanctions against Vietnam. They also ordered him not to reveal details about detention conditions in re-education camps or names of political prisoners to the international media and human rights organisations.
The Observatory is concerned by these acts of harassment and death threats against Thich Thien Minh and his brother, as well as the general climate of arbitrariness against UBCV monks. Indeed, the Observatory recalls that the UBCV monks have been subjected to systematic harassment and repression on the part of the Vietnamese authorities for many years because of their commitment to religious freedom, human rights and democracy in Vietnam (see Observatory Urgent Appeals VTN 003/1003/OBS 059, VTN 001/9909/OBS 061 and VTN 001/0105/OBS 042, as well as Observatory Annual Reports 2001, 2002 and 2003).
The Observatory strongly urges the Vietnamese authorities to comply with the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, especially article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels” and article 6(b), which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others (...) to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms”.
More generally, the Observatory urges the Vietnamese authorities to comply with international human rights standards included in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other international human rights instruments ratified by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.