Villagers Attack New Christians in Vietnam at Behest of Local Authorities

ICC Note: In some areas of Vietnam, becoming a Christian can be a dangerous undertaking. As recently as last month newly converted Christian families in Northwest Vietnam were beaten and driven from their village by an angry mob. The mob was accompanied by local authorities who directed them to raid the Christians homes and attack Christian families. While the government of Vietnam claims to allow religious freedom, in practice the government actively works to suppress the growth of Christianity. 
4/15/2014 Vietnam (MSN) – Inciting social hostility appears to have become a key way government officials in rural Vietnam try to contain, or at least slow, the growth of Christianity among ethnic minorities, sources said.
Ethnic Hmong Christians were the targets of two incidents the past two months in Vietnam’s northwest. Village officials in Son La Province dragged a couple from their home in late March, and the previous month authorities in neighboring Dien Bien Province incited a mob to beat a Christian family – including a 9-year-old girl – and drive them from the village.
In the latter case in Dien Bien Dong District, Public Security officers Hang Da Sinh and Cu Ninh Vang recruited some 30 villagers of Trun Phu Village, Na Song Commune, to accompany them to the home of Hang A Khua the evening of Feb. 26, according to Khua. Backed by an intimidating mob, the officers ordered Khua and his family of nine to recant their Christian faith and immediately and publicly signify their sincerity by re-establishing a family altar and worshipping their ancestors.
Khua refused, and the two officers ordered the accompanying villagers to attack the family. They did so vehemently, swinging short lengths of electrical cable at both adults and children, Khua reported in a petition to international human rights organizations and the United Nations. The parents sustained large welts and bruises, as did their 9-year-old daughter, Hang Thi Dia.
Next, officers Sinh and Vang told the crowd to ransack the house. They took some valuable legal papers, including eight birth certificates and health insurance policies, as well foodstuffs, including 10 large sacks of paddy rice, Khua said. They announced the confiscation of the family’s rice fields, drove them out of their house and proceeded to smash and demolish it. Cell phone photos of their injuries accompanied the petition.
Finally, after three hours of such abuse, the officers announced that the family was permanently expelled from Dien Bien Dong District and incited the mob to chase them away.
“Today my family is living in the forest without a place to call home,” Khua wrote in the April 2 report, “and day after day we do not know how we will live or where we will end up … please rescue my family!”
The tragic incident took place in a region noted for ongoing violence against Christians.
Khua believes the orders come from high officials; he cited the Communist Party and the Central Government of Vietnam as having “given permission” to Dien Bien District authorities (Vang Tong Cu, chair of the district people’s committee, and Thao A Thua, deputy district police chief) “to order” their public security officers to attack his family.
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