- Nguyen Van Ly
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Thadeus Nguyễn Văn Lý 
Please help wikipedia by updoading a free imageNative name Nguyễn Văn Lý Born Nguyễn Văn Lý
May 15, 1945
Vĩnh Chấp, Vĩnh Linh, Quảng Trị, VietnamNationality Vietnamese Ethnicity Kinh In this Vietnamese name, the family name is Nguyễn, but is often simplified to Nguyen in English-language text. According to Vietnamese custom, this person should properly be referred to by the given name Ly.Father Thaddeus (or Thadeus) Nguyễn Văn Lý (born May 15, 1946) is a Roman Catholic priest and prominent Vietnamese dissident involved in many pro-democracy movements, for which he was imprisoned for a total of almost 15 years. For his ongoing imprisonment and continuous non-violent protest, Amnesty International has adopted Nguyen Van Ly in December 1983 as a prisoner of conscience.[1] Most recently, his support for the Bloc 8406 manifesto has led to his sentence on March 30, 2007, for an additional eight years in prison.[2]
Contents
History
Nguyen Van Ly began his dissident activities as early as the 1970s. He spent a year in prison from 1977 to 1978, and an additional nine from May 1983 to July 1992 for "opposing the revolution and destroying the people's unity."[1]
In November 2000, Nguyen Van Ly gained global and official attention when members of the Committee for Religious Freedom visited him in his village, during the visit of U.S. president Clinton to Vietnam.[1]
On May 17, 2001 Father Ly was arrested at An Truyen church, for his alleged "failure to abide by the decisions on his probation issued by authorized State agencies,"[3] and received in October 2001 another prison sentence of 15 years for activities linked to the defense of freedom of expression. In 2002, he was awarded the Homo Homini Award for human rights activism by the Czech group People in Need, which he shared with Thích Huyền Quang and Thích Quảng Độ.[4] The sentence was later reduced several times and he was finally released in February 2004.
As a result of international pressure, including activities of the Vatican's Center of Pastoral Apostolate for Overseas Vietnamese under the leadership of Monsignor Tran Van Hoai, Father Ly was released from prison in early 2004 but remains under house arrest in the Archdiocese of Huế.
On April 8, 2006, Father Ly collaborated with other writers on the "Manifesto on Freedom and Democracy for Vietnam." Later on, the signers of this Manifesto called themselves "Bloc 8406", with reference to the date of the document.[5]
On April 15, 2006, Father Ly and three other Catholic Priests published the first issue of "Free Speech" (in Vietnamese Tự Do Ngôn Luận), an underground online publication.[6][7]
On September 8, 2006, Father Ly participated in the establishment of the Vietnam Progression Party (in Vietnamese Đảng Thăng Tiến Việt Nam).
2007 Arrest and Sentence
On February 19, 2007, security police surrounded and raided Huế Archdiocese to ransack the office, confiscate computers and arrested Father Nguyen Van Ly. They moved him to the remote location of Ben Cui in central Vietnam, where he was under house arrest; Father Ly engaged in a hunger strike from February 24 to March 5.
As a member of the Bloc 8406 pro-democracy movement, Nguyen Van Ly was sentenced again on March 30, 2007 by Vietnamese provincial court Judge Bùi Quốc Hiệp for eight years in prison for committing "very serious crimes that harmed national security" by trying to organize a boycott of the upcoming election.[8]
The court appearance was televised in Vietnam, with foreign reporters allowed to attend. During the trial, when Father Ly tried to shout an unauthorized, dissident remark, ("Đả Đảo Cộng Sản", meaning "down with communism") he was immediately held silent with a hand over his mouth by the security officer behind him.[9] Ly also kicked the bar and repeatedly interrupted the court's proceedings with anti-communist remarks and poems. The video and image was widely circulated afterwards on the internet.
The arrest has been condemned by leaders including US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice which calls this a "negative development".[8]
After Father Ly's arrest, US Congressman Christopher Smith introduced a House Resolution to call on Vietnam to immediately and unconditionally release Father Ly and his collaborators. [10] and US Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren wrote a letter to the US Secretary of State to urge the US State Department to re-designate Vietnam on the US Countries of Particular Concern List due to its violations of human rights and religious freedom.[11]
Updates
According to Amnesty International, Ly likely suffered a stroke on November 14, 2009 and was moved to Prison Hospital 198. They launched a letter-writing campaign encouraging the government of Vietnam to ensure Ly is able to receive adequate health care in hospital and on his return to prison.
He was released from prison to receive medical care on March 17, 2010, several years earlier than his original sentence.
In February 2011 Amnesty International lodged an URGENT ACTION to stop the Vietnamese government's intended return of Father Nguyen Van Ly into detention.
Despite these efforts, he was returned to prison on July 25, 2011. The State Department was "concerned" by this decision.
See also
- Bloc 8406 - Manifesto on Freedom and Democracy for Vietnam 2006
- Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan
- Father Buu Dong
References
- ^ a b c Open Viet Nam: Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly - Prisoner of Conscience | Amnesty International
- ^ VIETNAM Catholic Priest, Fr. Nguyen Van Ly, condemned to 8 years in prison - Asia News
- ^ Amnesty International : Father Nguyen Van Ly, Prisoner of Conscience
- ^ "Previous Recipients of the Homo Homini Award". People in Need. http://www.clovekvtisni.cz/index2en.php?id=549. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
- ^ Vietnam: End Attacks on Year-Old Democracy Movement (Human Rights Watch, 6-4-2007)
- ^ Reporters sans frontières - Vietnam
- ^ International PEN | Article Archive
- ^ a b U.S. calls Vietnamese sentence of Catholic priest deeply troubling 'negative development' - International Herald Tribune
- ^ Vatican said likely to ask for Vietnamese priest's clemency - Catholic Online
- ^ GovTrack: H. Res. 243: Text of Legislation
- ^ Lofgren (CA16), Press Release: Rep. Lofgren Calls on State Department to Add Vietnam to Countries of Particular Concern List
- ^ �{{cite web�|url=http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100317/vietnam-temporarily-frees-prominent-catholic-priest/�%7Ctitle=Vietnam Temporarily Frees Prominent Catholic Priest�|date=2010-03-17�|accessdate=2010-03-19��|publisher=Christian Post}}
- ^ �{{cite web�|url=http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA41/001/2011/en/b92b576a-52b0-42c1-9461-3b927e61aeb1/asa410012011en.html�%7Ctitle=URGENT ACTION - CATHOLIC PRIEST RISKS BEING RETURNED TO PRISON�|date=2011-02-09�|accessdate=2011-02-14��|publisher=Amnesty International}}
External links
Homo Homini Award laureates Sergei Kovalev (1994) • Szeto Wah (1997) • Ibrahim Rugova (1998) • Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas (1999) • Min Ko Naing (2000) • Zackie Achmat (2001) • Thích Huyền Quang (2002) • Thích Quảng Độ (2002) • Nguyen Van Ly (2002) • Nataša Kandić (2003) • Gheorghe Briceag (2004) • Ales Bialiatski (2005) • Svetlana Gannushkina (2006) • Su Su Nway (2007) • Phyu Phyu Thin (2007) • Nilar Thein (2007) • Liu Xiaobo (2008) • Majid Tavakoli (2009) • Abdollah Momeni (2009) • Azimzhan Askarov (2010)
Categories:- Vietnamese democracy activists
- Living people
- Vietnamese Roman Catholic priests
- Victims of human rights abuses
- Vietnamese dissidents
- Political repression in Vietnam
- Vietnamese human rights activists
- Prisoners and detainees of Vietnam
- 1946 births
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