The Australian Vietnamese Christian Association Inc.
Tel: (03) 9384 1947
Mob: 0412 560445
Mob: 0412 560445
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Fr. Anthony Nguyen
quangsdb@yahoo.com
Melbourne, Oct. 06, 2008. The Australian Vietnamese Christian Association (AVCA) will hold a Candlelight Prayer Vigil on Friday Oct 10, 2008 to denounce the persecution of Catholics in Vietnam and appeal to the Australian government to intervene so that the Vietnam government immediately stops all kinds of repression and respect human rights of its own people.
The Prayer Vigil, taking place at Federation Square (at the corner of Swanston and Flinders Sts), will start at 7:30 pm local time, and finish at 9:00 pm.
According to Fr Anthony Nguyen, Chairman of the Australian Vietnamese Christian Association, “The Church in Vietnam has been suffered the harshest crackdown in decades with numerous faithful who peacefully express their views on religious freedom and human rights have been detained, or intimidated.”
“Since December 2007, Catholics in Hanoi have been holding prayer vigils on Catholic Church premises, pleading for the return of the properties that had been confiscated unlawfully by the Communist regime in the 1950s,” he added.
“In response to their legitimate aspirations, the Vietnamese government openly persecuted them: churches ransacked, the former nunciature in Hanoi bulldozed, a peaceful religious procession ruined by tear gas, Catholic protestors beaten by police with stun gun, Catholic leadership viciously defamed on state media and threatened with ‘extreme actions’, pro-government thugs yelling death threats against Hanoi Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet who has since Sep. 19 been under virtual house arrested,” he reported.
“As a member of the UN Security Council,” Fr. Anthony believes, “Vietnam should uphold human rights and international laws it has signed and pledged to obey.”
“In this human rights crisis, AVCA turns to Australia,” he continued, “a country with a long tradition of protecting religious and human rights to respectfully ask Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to demand the Vietnam government to stop all repression immediately and to respect human rights and justice.”
Contacts:
Fr. Anthony Nguyen.
Tel: (03) 9384 1947
Mob: 0412 560445
Email: quangsdb@yahoo.com
For more information please visit: www.vietcatholic.net
The Prayer Vigil, taking place at Federation Square (at the corner of Swanston and Flinders Sts), will start at 7:30 pm local time, and finish at 9:00 pm.
According to Fr Anthony Nguyen, Chairman of the Australian Vietnamese Christian Association, “The Church in Vietnam has been suffered the harshest crackdown in decades with numerous faithful who peacefully express their views on religious freedom and human rights have been detained, or intimidated.”
“Since December 2007, Catholics in Hanoi have been holding prayer vigils on Catholic Church premises, pleading for the return of the properties that had been confiscated unlawfully by the Communist regime in the 1950s,” he added.
“In response to their legitimate aspirations, the Vietnamese government openly persecuted them: churches ransacked, the former nunciature in Hanoi bulldozed, a peaceful religious procession ruined by tear gas, Catholic protestors beaten by police with stun gun, Catholic leadership viciously defamed on state media and threatened with ‘extreme actions’, pro-government thugs yelling death threats against Hanoi Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet who has since Sep. 19 been under virtual house arrested,” he reported.
“As a member of the UN Security Council,” Fr. Anthony believes, “Vietnam should uphold human rights and international laws it has signed and pledged to obey.”
“In this human rights crisis, AVCA turns to Australia,” he continued, “a country with a long tradition of protecting religious and human rights to respectfully ask Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to demand the Vietnam government to stop all repression immediately and to respect human rights and justice.”
Contacts:
Fr. Anthony Nguyen.
Tel: (03) 9384 1947
Mob: 0412 560445
Email: quangsdb@yahoo.com
For more information please visit: www.vietcatholic.net