HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Suffering severe abuse from villagers and local Vietnamese officials, Hmong Christian Sung Cua Po fled into the forest with his family March 19. An expulsion order had been issued to his family, an area Christian leader said. Po, who embraced Christianity in November, was badly beaten after local officials in northwest Vietnam’s Dien Bien province arrested him Dec. 1, 2009. He then suffered physical attacks by police of Nam Son Commune on Feb. 10. The Christian leader said police have threatened that if he did not recant they would beat him till only his tongue was intact.
Around the Lunar New Year in mid-February, Po had an altercation with his father over offerings to family ancestors; Po held fast to his allegiance to Christ, refusing to sacrifice to his ancestors. On Feb. 20, Nam Son district police were authorized by Dien Bien Dong district authorities to demolish Po’s house if deemed necessary. On Feb. 21, community members backed by police confiscated 40 sacks of paddy rice, the family’s one-year supply.
In Phu Yen province in the south of Vietnam, religious intolerance was also on display as local police dragged a pastor behind a motorbike, Christian leaders reported. Village police summoned Y Du, a 55-year-old pastor from the Ede ethnic group, to a police station for questioning Jan. 27. While driving his motorbike to the station, Du was stopped by village police who chained his hands together and then attached the chain by rope to his motorbike. Christian sources said they forced Du to run behind the motorbike that they had commandeered, and he fell over many times, dragged along the ground. He was beaten and forced to keep running. He was later jailed without charges.
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