Pastor tells of religious persecution in Laos
ICC Note:
In addition to the 15 Hmong families and 9 Christian house church leaders recently arrested in Laos, Release International has released a video report of Pastor Khamxay detailing his arrest, arbitrary imprisonment, and how he was almost beaten to death by guards after refusing to renounce his faith and bringing fellow prisoners to Christ.
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4/7/08 Laos (ReligiousIntelligence) A new video report on Laos has just been posted on the Release International website: www.releaseinternational.org. In it Pastor Khamxay describes how he was arrested for bringing foreign religions to Laos, a largely Buddhist country. He told Release: “They asked me to sign a piece of paper that said that I would not be a Christian because Christians are not good and not right for the Lao people. I didn’t sign it because of my faith.”
Instead, he shared his faith with the other prisoners in the cell. Five of the eight became Christians. When the guards found out, they beat him almost to death.
“After I shared Christ they took me to interrogate one more time. They said I was paying money to people to become Christians and be against the government. I said, “No, I didn’t do that. It is not against the government.” And they hit my head, they kicked my shoulder, my bottom and my chest.’
He says the guards beat him until he passed out and almost died. Today his memory has been permanently affected by the kicking to the head he received.
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Like Vietnam, the authorities believe the United States is supporting Christians as a way of continuing its campaign against communism.
This leads the authorities to view some Christians as enemies of the state.
