Vietnamese Christian and Human Rights Advocate Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

 Vietnam: Father Nguyen Van Ly and The Most Venerable Thich Quang Do nominated for Nobel Peace Prize 
ICC Note: Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly has spent more than 15 years in prison for standing up on behalf or religious freedom and human rights in Vietnam. Father Ly has been partially paralyzed by strokes suffered while imprisoned and Vietnam has ignored calls by the United Nations and others for his release.  
2/06/13 Vietnam (CSW) -Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly, a 65 year-old Catholic priest, and the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do, Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), have been nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize by U.S. Members of Congress Chris Smith and Zoe Lofgren.
Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly, a 65 year-old Catholic priest and prominent human rights activist, has been a prominent human rights’ defender since the 1970s, campaigning for religious freedom, democracy and free media reporting. He is a prominent supporter of the Vietnamese democracy movement, Bloc 8406, and his outspoken work has resulted in him spending more than 15 years in prison.
In March 2007, Father Ly was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for “disseminating slanderous and libellous information” harmful to the state. He was rearrested by the Vietnamese authorities in July 2011, ending one-year and four months of temporary medical parole. He is partially paralysed as a result of suffering several strokes, as well as having a brain tumour. In September 2010, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention called for Father Ly’s immediate and unconditional release, saying that he had been arbitrarily and illegally detained and denied access to legal counsel by the Vietnamese authorities.
The Most Venerable Thich Quang Do is a Buddhist monk, human rights activist, and head of the UBCV, once the largest Buddhist organization of southern Vietnam. The UBCV and its leaders have been subject to ongoing government persecution since 1975. As a result of his outspoken attitude, Thích Quang Do spent 10 years in internal exile, and was given a 5 year prison sentence in 1995 for organizing a humanitarian relief mission. Despite these challenges, Thich Quang Do says the UBCV is determined to pursue its movement for human rights.
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