Vietnam Denies Detention of Dissident Buddhist Cleric
October 12, 2000 - 0:0
HANOI Vietnam on Wednesday denied that authorities in the flood-ravaged Mekong delta detained a Buddhist cleric who remains in the region on a controversial flood relief mission.
Thich Quang Do, deputy head of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), began a relief mission into the delta last Friday and was stopped from distributing aid Saturday, the UBCV said.
"As far as we know, there was absolutely no arrest or detention," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh told Deutsche presse-agentur, DPA, in a statement.
The denial runs contrary to reports by the church's Paris-based International Buddhist Information Bureau (IBIB), which said Do and a handful of followers were detained for 12 hours on Saturday after being stopped from distributing aid in an Giang Province.
"It is ridiculous," IBIB head Vo Van Ai said of the denial.
"I talked to Mr. Do personally Saturday night after his release." A Western diplomat following the case suggested that Hanoi was "playing with semantics" by declining to equate the UBCV members' lengthy interrogation session with detention.
The foreign ministry also said Do's group carried out "illegal filming and photography" in an Phu district near Cambodia, an act which runs counter to Vietnamese border regulations.
Ai said Do had told him nothing about photographic activities.
"Besides, that is not a reason to arrest the delegation," Ai said.
An Phu district police officer Trung Hai said the entourage was kept at the border police station "for six to seven hours for administrative procedures" following the photography violations.
Do, 73, had regained some of his strength after falling ill at the weekend and aimed to distribute further aid Wednesday in long and Dong Thap provinces, Ai said.
The mission intended to distribute 1,700 parcels to victims of the low-lying delta's worst flooding in 70 years in which 327 people, mostly children, are known to have died. Millions have been affected.
Authorities say they welcome flood relief from all quarters but require it be coordinated through official agencies.
On Monday, senior UBCV monk Thich Khong Tanh was expelled from the Mekong delta after the relief team distributed 100 parcels of aid, the IBIB said.
Seventeen of Do's followers were also stopped from distributing 22,000 dollars worth of aid last month in An Giang.
Do, a 2000 Nobel peace prize nominee, was sentenced in 1995 to five years in prison for coordinating a similar relief mission in central Vietnam. He was released in 1998 in a presidential amnesty.
Do has been a tireless promoter of religious freedoms since the UBCV was effectively outlawed in the years after the Vietnam war, when Hanoi created a singular progovernment Buddhist church.
(DPA)
Thich Quang Do, deputy head of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), began a relief mission into the delta last Friday and was stopped from distributing aid Saturday, the UBCV said.
"As far as we know, there was absolutely no arrest or detention," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh told Deutsche presse-agentur, DPA, in a statement.
The denial runs contrary to reports by the church's Paris-based International Buddhist Information Bureau (IBIB), which said Do and a handful of followers were detained for 12 hours on Saturday after being stopped from distributing aid in an Giang Province.
"It is ridiculous," IBIB head Vo Van Ai said of the denial.
"I talked to Mr. Do personally Saturday night after his release." A Western diplomat following the case suggested that Hanoi was "playing with semantics" by declining to equate the UBCV members' lengthy interrogation session with detention.
The foreign ministry also said Do's group carried out "illegal filming and photography" in an Phu district near Cambodia, an act which runs counter to Vietnamese border regulations.
Ai said Do had told him nothing about photographic activities.
"Besides, that is not a reason to arrest the delegation," Ai said.
An Phu district police officer Trung Hai said the entourage was kept at the border police station "for six to seven hours for administrative procedures" following the photography violations.
Do, 73, had regained some of his strength after falling ill at the weekend and aimed to distribute further aid Wednesday in long and Dong Thap provinces, Ai said.
The mission intended to distribute 1,700 parcels to victims of the low-lying delta's worst flooding in 70 years in which 327 people, mostly children, are known to have died. Millions have been affected.
Authorities say they welcome flood relief from all quarters but require it be coordinated through official agencies.
On Monday, senior UBCV monk Thich Khong Tanh was expelled from the Mekong delta after the relief team distributed 100 parcels of aid, the IBIB said.
Seventeen of Do's followers were also stopped from distributing 22,000 dollars worth of aid last month in An Giang.
Do, a 2000 Nobel peace prize nominee, was sentenced in 1995 to five years in prison for coordinating a similar relief mission in central Vietnam. He was released in 1998 in a presidential amnesty.
Do has been a tireless promoter of religious freedoms since the UBCV was effectively outlawed in the years after the Vietnam war, when Hanoi created a singular progovernment Buddhist church.
(DPA)