Police force severe persecution met by Persistent Resilience from Hoa Hao Buddhist Worshipers

Saigon – More than thirty Hoa Hao Buddhist worshipers from Vietnam were severely persecuted by police at the home of Mr. Nguyen Van Vinh in Long Giang commune, Cho Moi district, An Giang province on Marc 21st, 2014.

Mr. Le Quang Liem, chairman of Hoa Hao Buddhist Central Association, informed us that: ”Beginning on March, 20th, 2014, groups of about fifteen communist government officials came to each commune, to prohibit leaders of Traditional Hoa Hao Buddhism from commemorating the day of Prophet Huynh Phu So’s disappearance on 25th of February of the lunar calendar. Whoever disobeyed this order would face serious disciplines.”

At around 5:00 pm on March 12st, 2014, more than three-hundred personnel from regular and riot police, and thugs with fire-trucks came to Mr. Nguyen Van Vinh’s residence, the site of the ceremony. They stormed the house and used hoses from the fire-trucks to spray all over the location. They forced about thirty worshipers inside the house to kneel down and brutally beat them. Whoever refused to kneel would be beaten in the lower legs until they collapsed.

To protest these violent assaults, Mrs. Tran Thi Xinh, an eighty-year-old Hoa Hao Buddhist worshiper, grabbed a container with about ten liters of gasoline to set herself on fire. The government’s thugs overpowered her; they thumped her until she collapsed. They stripped all her clothes off, tied her up and left her lay unconscious on the ground.

After the beatings, the police searched the house and confiscated all materials used for the ceremony including banners, two video cameras, three regular cameras, microphone, and amplifier. They destroyed all of the doors on Mr. Vinh’s home and seized all cellular phones. Their conducts on that afternoon were even worse than bandits, which sparked tremendous outrage from people in the area.

The attack, beating and robbing resulted in many serious injuries. The wife of Mr. Ha Hai, who died in the year 2000, in Xuan Loc prison due to illness, suffered the worst injuries as she is being treated at the emergency room at Chau Thanh district’s hospital, An Giang province.

Recording devices captured the entire event; therefore the police wanted to destroy the evidence by confiscating all video cameras, regular cameras and cellular phone as above-mentioned.

In addition, all of the homes of Hoa Hao Buddhist officials in An Giang, Dong Thap, Vinh Long, and Can Tho provinces had been besieged by police. Nobody was allowed to enter or leave, even with medical conditions. These persecutions entailed how the government of Republic Socialist of Vietnam honored human rights.

After this incident, Mr. Nguyen Van Vinh wrote his own death note as the following:

“My name is Nguyen Van Vinh, a Hoa Hao Buddhism worshiper. I am eighty-two years of age, and I currently live in Long Hoa hamlet, Long Giang commune, Cho Moi district, An Giang province.

I am sharing my thoughts in this death note so that whoever it concerns would understand and support my actions.

The communist government of Vietnam always claims on public media that they respect democracy, human rights, and freedom of religion. However those are merely empty words from corrupted officials, crooks, and liars with their evil scheme to serve communist China.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

After almost forty years of communist’s forceful invasion of South Vietnam, countless people with a desire for freedom, democracy, human rights, and freedom of religion constantly suffers harassment, persecution, imprisonment or even death. Especially with Hoa Hao Buddhism worshipers, many families have been broken, children taken away from their families, and people suffered poverty due to the ruling of totalitarian communist regime.

The Vietnamese communists have always been trying to Hoa Hao Buddhism. They have eliminated Hoa Hao Buddhist heritage sites, leveled pagodas, temples, and monasteries. They spread deceptive publications slandering Hoa Hao Prophet Huynh Phu So, insult Hoa Hao Buddhism worshipers including Su Thu Hoa Hao (Hoa Hao Master) by Nguyen Hung, Dong Song Tho Au (River of Childhood) and Dat Lua (Land of Fire) by Nguyen Quang Sang. The most recent example of writings aimed to destroy Hoa Hao Buddhism was the thesis by Buddhist student Nguyen Van Hue with the title of Thuc Chat Dao Hoa Hao (True Nature of Hoa Hao Buddhism). This individual, who was backed up by the communists, used his religious cover to make fame for himself and obliterate Hoa Hao Buddhism in the process.”

About the commemorating Hoa Hao Prophet Huynh Phu So’s disappearance, Mr. Nguyen Van Vinh said that: “Before 1975, the three most important memorial ceremonies in Hoa Hao Buddhism take place on the 18th of May, 25th of November, and 25th of February in the lunar calendar. Although now the ceremony on 25th of February has been strictly banned. Therefore, when every 25th of February comes around, Hoa Hao Buddhism worshipers are concerned on how we go about to conduct the ceremony, and what would happen to the ceremony, and how Hoa Hao practitioners can honor and fulfill our obligations to the Founder of our belief. Every year, the communists use many tactics to prevent us from conducting the ceremony including sending warning letters, quarantine, and beatings. They do not spare any dirty approach to prohibit us from participating. The year 2014 was the same as the previous years. On 18th of February of the lunar year, a group of more than twenty people from police forces of An Giang province, Cho Moi district, and Long Giang commune came to my house, the site for this year’s ceremony. They threatened and banned us from conducting the ceremony on the 25th of February of the lunar year. Today, as of 19th of February, about 200 police officers surround my house and block both ends of my street. ”

We are determined to conduct this important ceremony in our religion. If the Vietnamese communist carries out their evil plan to prevent us from organizing this ceremony, we will sacrifice our lives by immolation as a wake-up call to the Vietnamese communist regime. We will prove to them that persecution, violence, deception, lies cannot win. So they will pay a dear price for all these mishaps.

Priests, ministers, monks and leader figures from all other major religions in Vietnam agree that this is truly a violent and atrocious persecution of religion in Vietnam.

Reporters from VRNs.
Translation by VFP

Posted 4 hours ago by An THANH

Labels: Citizen Freedom Human Rights Justice Nation Policy Politics Press Release