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The Voice of the Martyrs in Canada strongly condemns the destruction done to the building that serves as the main centre of the Vietnam Mennonite Church and the home of imprisoned Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang on July 19, 2005.  According to a press release by the Vietnam Mennonite Church General Office received by VOMC yesterday, some 200 District 2 officials cordoned off the area around the Mennonite Church center in Binh Khanh Ward in District 2 at 8:00 AM on July 19, 2005 in order to tear down the rear portion of the centre. 

The press release reports that, with government video cameras rolling and pictures snapping, seventy government officials and hired hands used hammers and electric saws to destroy an 8 by 4.7 meter rear portion of the two-story home of Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang and the main center of the Mennonite Church of Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City.  After four hours of destructive work, they left a pile of rubble including brick, wood and metal rebar.  In addition to the rear four meters of the building which they accused Pastor Quang of having illegally constructed several years ago, authorities also destroyed four meters of the church's meeting room where weekly worship services are held.  The space above the church’s meeting room is the home of the family of the Rev. Quang and was constructed in 1999.  Authorities charged that it had been built without a permit. This is a technicality that is rarely required in Vietnam. The Mennonite Church of Vietnam reports that they had petitioned officials many times, pointing out the irrational nature of the order, but the People’s Committee of District 2 refused to deal fairly with the issue. 

Only Mrs. Nguyen Hong Quang and two of her small children were at home when the area was cordoned off and the destruction of part of the building took place.  Other Mennonite workers and students who normally resided at the house had been expelled from the centre at the end of 2004.  Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang himself, who has recently suffered a serious decline in his health, has been incarcerated since June 8, 2004 and is currently held in the infamous Dac Trung prison in Dak Lak Province. 

While government authorities were tearing down the building, they blocked the mobile phone of Mrs. Quang so she could not communicate with anyone.  Mrs. Quang urgently requested the authorities to respect the law and not tear down parts of the building that were not included in the dispute.  They ignored her and continued to order those they had hired for the job to destroy part of the church’s meeting room not included in the order.  Those hired to do the dirty work asked Mrs. Quang to please "sympathize with us. We are only hired hands and are doing this because we need food on our tables; we don't want to destroy the church and we will be very careful not to destroy the church's property." Mrs. Quang and her two small children could only watch and pray in anguish as they witnessed the destruction going on. 

Local Christians who learned of the incident were kept away from the site until after the officials left at 12:40 PM.  Upon their departure, a steady stream of Christians came to visit and comfort Mrs. Quang and her two small children, and helped her tidy up the awful mess left by the destruction. 

In their July 19 press release, the Vietnam Mennonite Church General Office wrote, "We call on the worldwide community of Mennonites and Christian communities to continue to pray and to do all in your power to encourage and support the family of the Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang and the Vietnam Mennonite Church during this time of heavy repression. We call on international human rights organizations, mass media organizations and governments who care about human rights to please do everything within your power to raise your voices to support us."

The Voice of the Martyrs urges believers from around the world to pray for Mrs. Quang and her family during this time.  You may write a letter of encouragement to them at:

Ba Le Thi Phu Dung
C5/1H Tran Nao, Khu Pho 1
Phuong Binh Khanh, Quan 2
Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnam

Letters of protest to the Vietnamese embassy in Canada can be sent to:

Her Excellency Thi Hoi Nguyen, Ambassador
Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
470 Wilbrod Street
Ottawa, ON K1N 6M8
Canada

Addresses to Vietnamese embassies in other countries may be found through our links page.

  Earlier this year, VOMC released a video report containing an interview with Mrs Quang and other Mennonite church workers and their families who have suffered from almost continual persecution from Vietnamese authorities.  This report can be viewed on VOMC's multimedia website, www.vomcanada.com.

For more information on the persecution of Christians in Vietnam,click here.

On June 1, Radio Free Asia interviewed Doctor Hoang Trong Tam who has been treating lay pastor Than Van Truong.  Brother Truong has spent the last eight months in Dong Nai Mental Hospital reportedly because of his strong dedication to Christ.  According to Doctor Tam, Truong is "fanatical" with "an extreme belief in God" which authorities believe warrants treatment.  Click here for an English translation of the interview.

The Voice of the Martyrs is launching a postcard campaign on behalf of Brother Troung.  While supplies last, you can receive up to five postcards for free. Each postcard is preprinted with an encouraging message for Brother Troung.  All you need to do is place the appropriate postage on the card, sign it with your first name and drop it in the mail as soon as possible. You can invite your friends to use the other cards. 

The greeting on the card reads: "Dear Br. Truong, Warmest greetings in Christ from your friends around the world. Your Christian testimony has inspired us and we pray that you will be released from this unjust treatment and returned to your family. We pray that the Bible verse will be a comfort and a strength for you. May God bless you richly."

To request up to five postcards, please visit our website (no longer available).  Sorry, the offer is only available to residents of Canada.

For more information on the persecution of Christians in Vietnam,click here.

Seventeen days before his eleven-year prison term for spreading religion was to end, Vietnamese Hmong Christian leader Sung Seo Pao was released from prison on May 3.  According to VOM sources in Vietnam, Seo Pao looked well and was strong in his faith.

Seo Pao was first arrested in 1990.  He served eight months in prison and was released on the condition that he would not preach the gospel.  Unable to meet such a condition, he was arrested again in May 1995.

Praise God that Seo Pao has been released.  Pray for him as he continues to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Vietnam.  Pray that promised religious reforms in Vietnam will truly result in increased freedom of religion. Pray for strength for others presently suffering for their faith in Vietnamese prisons.

For more information on the continuing persecution of Christians in Vietnam,click here.

Le Thi Hong Lien as she was being released from hospital

Only two days after being released from a mental hospital, Le Thi Hong Lien was arrested, together with twelve others, for attending an evening Bible study and prayer meeting in the home of imprisoned pastor Nguyen Hong Quang on Sunday, May 1. Pastor Quang's home in District 2, Ho Chi Minh City also serves as a meeting place of the Vietnam Mennonite Church. According to a May 3 report from Compass Direct, the Mennonites planned to spend time during this meeting thanking God for the release of Lien on April 29.

Before all of the Christians had even arrived for the meeting, approximately thirty police officers pushed their way into the house at approximately 7:45 p.m. They stopped the meeting and ordered all who had gathered to go to the police station for interrogation.  They were held for almost three hours and subjected to threats and verbal abuse before finally being released. One drunken police officer reportedly said that he had orders to harass the Christians until they stopped using Quang's house for worship.

Following the raid, Lien was reportedly exhausted and terrified.  She remained silent throughout the interrogation, despite threats of violence.  Her father, Le Quang Du, was pressured to sign a confession of guilt for an "administrative infraction," which he refused to sign.  The day before his daughter's release, Du had been warned against his daughter attending meetings at the Quang home. At the time, he had resolutely affirmed that his family would continue to worship God and participate in the activities of their church.  Nguyen Thanh Nhan, another evangelist recently released from prison, was threatened with physical torture during the interrogation.

Nguyen Thanh Nhan

For more information on the continued persecution of Christians in Vietnam,click here.  The Voice of the Martyrs recently released a video report on the "Mennonite Six," which includes interviews with Lien's father, Pastor Quang's wife and Nguyen Thanh Nhan.  To view this video report, go to our multimedia website at www.vomcanada.com.

According to VOM sources, just before her release, both Ms. Lien and her father refused to sign an amnesty paper that would have required Lien to serve house arrest for the remaining two months of her sentence. Her father courageously insisted that she either be completely freed or returned to the hospital.

A press release from the office of the General Secretary of the Vietnam Mennonite Church said that when Le Quang Du, Lien's father, was invited to the police station of the Security Police of the District 2 in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday to tell him of his daughter's pending release, authorities strongly advised him that Ms. Lien should not go to the home of Mrs. Nguyen Hong Quang after her release, thereby avoiding causing "any difficulties for the local government authorities." The Quang home also serves as the Mennonite church meeting place. Ms. Lien's father resolutely affirmed that his family would continue to worship God and participate in the activities of their church.

The Vietnam Mennonite Church believes the release of Ms. Lien before the end of her sentence came because the considerable attention paid to her case by many foreign governments, human rights organizations, international media and Christian believers, both Mennonites and many others around the world. In their release they state: "Our church would like to take this opportunity to express our sincerest gratitude to all who have prayed for and with us and to all donors who have contributed toward the needs of the prisoners and their families."

Upon her release, Lien reportedly exhibited joy at seeing her family and church committee who had come to meet her at her release.  Her jaw, which was broken in the beatings she received while in prison, remains very painful because it did not receive proper medical attention.

The Voice of the Martyrs in Canada joins the Vietnamese Mennonite Church in calling for the release of the remaining two prisoners who have been in detention since 2004; the Rev. Nguyen Quang and Evangelist Pham Ngoc Thach.

Praise God for the safe release of Lien.  Photos of her release may be viewed online.  Pray for her complete physical and mental healing.  Pray for the release of the Rev. Nguyen Quang and Evangelist Pham Ngoc Thach.

Just as Le Thi Hong Lien is to be released from the Bien Hoa Mental Hospital, the plight of another Vietnamese prisoner of conscience who is in the same mental hospital has come to light. Rev. Than Van Truong of the Baptist General Conference of Vietnam, an unregistered church group, has been imprisoned since May 27, 2003, accused of "counterrevolutionary propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam."  On September 9, 2004, he was forcibly transferred for treatment for "hysteria and delirium" to the forensic medicine ward, in Center II of the Bien Hoa Mental Hospital.

He recently sent an appeal to the UN Human Rights Commission saying that he fears for his life following his protests that he is not mentally ill and his petition to be returned to prison to fight the false charges against him.  After his protest and petition, Rev. Truong claims that his medication was changed to that which would be debilitating and potentially life threatening.

Please remember Rev. Than Van Truong in your prayers as he languishes in the Bien Hoa Mental Hospital. Pray that he will remain safe from attempts to silence him.

VOM's Prisoner Alert website offers an innovative way to write a letter of encouragement to Rev. Truong. Go to www.prisoneralert.com for more information. For more information on Vietnam and the persecution of Christians there,click here.

Compass Direct and Agence France-Presse (AFP) are reporting that Vietnamese officials have promised to release Le Thi Hong Lien two months early as part of an amnesty on April 30: the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon during the Vietnam War.  She will be one of six "political prisoners" released along with 7745 other prisoners.  This news comes from a European diplomat speaking to AFP.  The news was confirmed by an American diplomat.  Others to be released include Rev. Pham Ngoc Lien sentenced to 20 years in 1987 for "hostile propaganda" and four Montagnards sentenced in February 2004.

Lien was one of six Mennonite church workers who were arrested in 2004 and sentenced for "resisting officers of the law while doing their duty."  In February 2005, Lien was transferred to the Bien Hoa Mental Hospital after suffering from a severe mental breakdown. Since that time there was been some recovery.  She has begun to speak again and is beginning to remember the severe torture she faced; including drug injections, severe beatings, food deprivation, verbal abuse and more.  She has begun to recognize her parents.  Her father reports that among the first words spoken to them were, "I am now in great suffering from the top of my head to the extremities of my body. Father, please pray for me.  I am very tired."  He wrote, "And so I comforted my daughter by praying to our Lord Jesus."

Pray that there will be no delays in her release.  Pray for the long journey of recovery ahead:  physical, mental and spiritual.  Sources close to her have said, "Without God's help she will never be the same again."

Continue to intervene on behalf of two other Mennonite workers still in prison: Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang and Pham Ngoc Thach.  The Voice of the Martyrs in Canada recently released a video news report about the Mennonite Six through their multimedia website, www.vomcanada.com.  This video includes testimony from former prisoners and family members, such as the wife of Pastor Quang. 

Concerned Christians are encouraged to write Vietnamese authorities.  An advocate's pack, along with more information on the persecution of Christians in Vietnam,is available through our website.

After a hearing that lasted just over two hours on the morning of April 12, a superior court in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, upheld the prison sentences of Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang and Evangelist Pham Ngoc Thach.

Le Thi Phu Dung wife of Pastor Quang

The prisoners are reported to be in good health and spirits. His lawyer said that Pastor Quang had told him: "I am content until I am released. I am a pastor. I have faith. God will take care of me."  Quang is reportedly ministering to fellow prisoners who are HIV-positive.

Unless granted amnesty, Quang is scheduled to be released in June 2007.  Thach is to be released in March 2006.

Pray for the continued ministry of Quang and Thach as they remain in prison because of their faith.  Pray for strength and an enduring peace for their families.  Pray for the continued ministry of the Church in Vietnam. 

VOM Canada recently released a video news report about the Mennonite Six through their multimedia website, www.vomcanada.com.  This video includes testimony from former prisoners and family members, such as the wife of Pastor Quang.  Registration is required, but membership is free.

Concerned Christians are encouraged to write Vietnamese authorities.  An advocate's pack, along with more information on the persecution of Christians in Vietnam, is availablethrough our website.

Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang	Pham Ngoc Thach

The Vietnam Mennonite Church has issued an urgent appeal for two days of prayer and fasting from 7:30 a.m. on April 11 to 5:00 p.m. on April 12 for "the serious problems of the church in Vietnam in general and for the Vietnam Mennonite Church in particular." 

They ask that we would please remember:

• To pray for the Lord to grant strength to the Rev Nguyen Hong Quang and the Mennonite evangelists still in prison.  Pray especially for Ms. Le Thi Hong Lien, a Mennonite church worker who is being held as a prisoner in dangerous circumstances in the Bien Hoa Mental Hospital.
• To pray for all children of the Lord that they will remain strong in the faith in spite of persecution and will have freedom of spirit to worship the Lord in any circumstances.
• To pray for the judges’ panel sitting at the appeal trail on April 12, 2005, that they will judge justly and release the Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang and the other imprisoned Mennonite evangelists, and also return all property seized from the Vietnam Mennonite Church.
• To pray that the Lord will grant peace and protection to all Christian who come to attend the trial.

For more information on the persecution of Christians in Vietnam, as well as ways you can help,click here.