Release International

Christians worldwide are called to pray and fast

Two of Vietnam's imprisoned Mennonite Christians are finally to have their appeal heard by the People's Supreme Court. The date has been fixed for April 12 - and Christians worldwide are invited to pray and fast for their release.

The Mennonite Six were sentenced to up to three years' imprisonment last November after challenging men acting suspiciously around their church. They turned out to be plain clothes police officers. Yet the Christians were jailed for resisting arrest.

The church workers have been systematically brutalised in jail. A 21-year-old Sunday school teacher has been driven out of her mind and another has been crippled. A third who has just completed his sentence says he was 'terrorised'.

A third member of the Mennonite Six from Ho Chi Minh City has now been transferred from jail to a mental hospital. Twenty-one-year-old children's worker Le Thi Hong Lien has suffered a mental breakdown due to the abuse and torture she endured in Tong Le Chan Prison. Her family fears she will be treated no better in hospital.

Her father, Le Quang Du, who visited her in hospital on March 12, reported that she continues to face cruel treatment - including food deprivation - and is still kept in a cell.

He says Lein cowers every time she sees a uniformed police officer. 'It's as if my daughter is penned up with wolves.' Yet as a Christian, Du says he forgives those who have driven his daughter out of her mind.

Lawyers for church leader Rev Nguyen Hong Quang and evangelist Pham Ngoc Thach have been given just 12 days' notice to prepare their appeal. Their original hearing was cancelled the day before it was due to take place on February 2.

'Vietnam will have to convince the world that this appeal is more than window-dressing,' says Eddie Lyle, the Chief Executive of Release International, which supports the persecuted church. 'Vietnam must release the Mennonite Christians. And it must prove to the international community that it no longer supports the systematic brutalisation of believers. There must be freedom of religion in Vietnam.'

The government issued a new Ordinance on Religion in November. This was supposed to guarantee religious freedom - yet persecution of Christians, including the Mennonites, has only intensified.

Christians in Vietnam will be fasting and praying for Rev Quang and Thach, as well as Lien, on April 12 when the two men appear in court. They are invite believers around the world to join them.

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