Laotian Christians arrested for worshipping

BOUKHAM, Laos — Pastor Sompong Supatto and six other Christians were arrested Sept. 28 for meeting together in a worship service in the Southeast Asia country of Laos.

The chief of Boukham village in Atsaphangthong District in Savannakhet Province along with village security officials and police arrested the Christians, according to Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF).

Christians have been assembling for corporate worship in Boukham village for more than three years, and the chief’s order violates religious freedom as stipulated in the country’s constitution, a HRWLRF spokesman said. Local officials had issued an order the previous Sunday, Sept. 21, that Christians in the village were no longer allowed to gather for worship but there was no explanation as to why, the spokesman added.

“The HRWLRF urges the Lao government to respect the right of the Lao people to religious freedom and the accompanying rights as guaranteed in the Lao constitution and the U.N. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Laos in 2009, upholding the individual’s right to adopt a religion/belief of choice as well as the right to manifest that religion/belief in a corporate worship (Article 18),” the HRWLRF representative said. “Any form of coercion impairing the freedom to have and manifest one’s religion/belief of choice is condemned in the Covenant.”