Vietnam Releases Prominent Mennonite Pastor

BosNewsLife – Amid international pressure, Vietnam has released a prominent Mennonite church leader from prison and re-united him with his family, well informed human rights workers said Wednesday, August 31. Voice Of the Martyrs (VOM) Australia said in a statement to BosNewsLife it learned early Wednesday that Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang was freed late Tuesday, August 30. “Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang has [now] been united with his family and his congregation at the facility of the Vietnam Mennonite Christian Church in Ho Chi Minh city,” Vietnamese American Public Affairs Committee spokesman Dan Duy Hoang was quoted as saying by news media. Pastor Quang, 45, is a well-known promoter of religious freedom and human rights who has defended farmers’ land rights cases and spoken out against the arrests of religious and political dissidents. Vietnamese officials were not immediately available for comment. Pastor Quang was sentenced November 2004 to three years imprisonment and forced labor on what human rights groups described as “false charges” of “interfering with officers doing their duty.” In March 2004, Pastor Quang confronted two plainclothes policemen who church sources said “had harassed” some of his workers. It was not immediately clear under what conditions, if any, the church leader was set free…[Go To Full Story]