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Buddhists in central Vietnam claim government harassment

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February 11, 2001 

HANOI-- (AP) - Police and government officials have been harassing and intimidating Vietnamese Buddhists during a week of special prayers in the central city of Hue, monks said Saturday.

Communist authorities have sought to prevent people from attending a weeklong prayer service, said Thich Thai Hoa, head of the Thua Thien Hue Order of Buddhist monks, which is part of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, or UBCV.

"Police have gone from home to home warning people not to come, and intimidating them," Hoa said.

Students from primary to university level were ordered to attend classes Saturday and Sunday and forbidden to attend prayer services, he said, and police checkpoints were set up around the city. Buddhist followers reported being questioned after attending services.

Police have also been deployed around Tu Hieu Temple trying to prevent people from attending the weeklong prayer service, another monk said on condition of anonymity. No arrests have been reported so far.

Despite the threats, more than 1,000 people have attended services at the temple since the event began on Wednesday, said Hoa. It runs through Tuesday.

"The people who have come are very brave," Hoa said. "They know they may have trouble but they are willing to risk it."

International human rights groups, along with the U.S. State Department, have consistently criticized Vietnam for its restrictions on religion and free expression.

Leaders and members of the UBCV, the Hoa Hao Buddhist sect, Cao Dai believers, Catholics and Protestants have been harassed, detained without charges, placed under house arrest, and even imprisoned.

The services in Hue offered prayers of peace and happiness for the new millennium, Hoa said. It was also to honor the souls of slain soldiers and victims of natural disasters. And finally, it asked for religion in Vietnam to be liberated, and human rights to be respected.

Last week, Thich Quang Do, the second highest-ranking leader of the UBCV, was detained, interrogated and strip-searched after paying a New Year's visit to the church's patriarch in central Quang Ngai province.

Do, 73, who was later released, said the incident shows the need for the United States to make human rights a condition for a trade agreement with Vietnam.

The U.S. Congress and Vietnam's National Assembly are set to ratify a historic trade agreement signed last year.

From Hue, Hoa said he heard that he and other organizers of the prayer service may be arrested for organizing the services.

"I am not afraid, because I do work for my people," he said. "I am doing what's right. Those who would do me harm are simply ignorant and bad."

The reports of repression in Hue came as the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an official body charged with advising the president on strengthening religious freedom and combating religious persecution worldwide, was set to begin hearings Tuesday on religious freedom violations in Vietnam and Indonesia.