Viet Nam: Catholic Priest should be unconditionally released

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL  PRESS RELEASE   16 March  2010   For immediate  release    Viet Nam:  Catholic Priest should be unconditionally  released     A Vietnamese human rights  activist and Catholic priest who was temporarily  allowed to leave detention  yesterday should be unconditionally and  permanently released, Amnesty  International urged today.     Father Nguyen Van Ly, who is  serving an eight year jail term for spreading  “propaganda” against the state in  2007, was yesterday released for a  period of 12 months on humanitarian grounds  to receive medical treatment.   Ly, 63, has already served three years in  prison. He is one of the  founders of the internet-based pro-democracy movement  “Bloc 8406” and  participated in banned political groups.   “Father Ly  should never have been detained in the first place. His release  should be  unconditional and permanent and he should be allowed to receive  proper medical  care,” said Amnesty International’s Viet Nam researcher  Brittis Edman. “This  small positive step is happening against the backdrop of  a deteriorating human  rights situation, with 16 dissidents imprisoned in  the last six months alone,  and dozens more currently detained for criticism  of government  policies.”   Nguyen Van Ly’s health has  rapidly deteriorated in prison. He suffers from  partial paralysis following a  stroke in November last year and doctors  have also discovered a brain  tumour.   He will remain under  surveillance during the temporary release period  while he lives at a house for  retired priests in the diocese of the Archbishop  of Hue, in central Viet Nam,  where he has previously stayed.   The peaceful pro-democracy activist has  been jailed three times since the  1970s. Amnesty International first adopted  Father Ly as a prisoner of  conscience in December 1983, and following subsequent  arrests.     Amnesty International continues  to urge the government of Viet Nam to  amend or repeal national security  provisions of the Penal Code which are used  to silence and detain activists.  These provisions are in direct breach of  international treaties ratified by Viet  Nam. The authorities must allow  peaceful dissent, debate, freedom of speech and  assembly consistent with Viet Nam ’s obligations under international law, and  release all prisoners of  conscience.   END/   Public Document   ****************************************  For more information please  call Amnesty International's press office in  London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 or  email: _press@amnesty.org_  (mailto:press@amnesty.org)    International Secretariat, Amnesty  International, 1 Easton St., London  WC1X 0DW, UK _www.amnesty.org_ (http://www.amnesty.org/)