Vietnam has confirmed its security forces detained two ethnic Vietnamese Catholics – an Australian and a Norwegian – who went missing in Cambodia 12 days ago after meeting with activists from the outlawed pro-democracy movement Viet Tan. Source: UCA News.
The Ministry of Public Security said its Security Investigation Agency had initiated a criminal case against Melbourne-based Ho Pham Hiep Huy – also known as Tran Hiep – Nguyen Duc Thuan, and a third man, Thai Cong Truong Son, claiming they were arrested while trying to illegally enter Vietnam.
“During the investigation, they confessed to being members of the terrorist organisation Viet Tan and carrying fake documents to illegally enter Vietnam to conduct terrorist and sabotage activities,” Vietnam’s official state media said.
It said border guards at the My Quy Tay station in Vietnam’s southern province of Tay Ninh had detained them at 9.50pm on September 18 as they entered Vietnam illegally from Cambodia.
Mr Hiep, 51, from Melbourne, and Mr Thuan, 52, from Oslo, were reported by Viet Tan as missing in Cambodia since September 18, when their last contact with family was made through a phone call by Mr Hiep to his mother about an upcoming family birthday party.
United States-based Viet Tan has been banned in Vietnam and declared a designated terrorist group amid claims by the country’s communist government, led by President To Lam, that its supporters were plotting to end one-party rule. Lengthy jail terms have resulted.
“As many of us feared, the two Viet Tan members were forcibly abducted in Cambodia and taken to Vietnam. It’s absurd that the Vietnamese authorities have now charged them with illegally entering Vietnam,” Duy Hoang, executive director of Viet Tan, told UCA News.
“This act of transnational repression followed by fabricated charges demonstrates just how brutish and lawless the To Lam regime really is,” Mr Hoang said, adding Viet Tan was working with Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Both men flew into Phnom Penh on September 15 from Bangkok and were scheduled to leave September 19, but they never boarded their flights, raising fears among human rights groups that they were abducted in Cambodia in the latest example of transnational repression.
Catholic prayer vigils were held for both men, Mr Hoang said.
FULL STORY
Vietnam confirms arrests of missing Catholic activists (By Luke Hunt, UCA News)
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