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''Mennonite Six'' Member Arrested, Interrogated Two Days after Release

After just two days of freedom, Vietnamese prisoner-of-conscience Le Thi Hong Lien was arrested for attending a Bible study with other Christian believers

After just two days of freedom, Vietnamese prisoner-of-conscience Le Thi Hong Lien was arrested for attending a Bible study with other Christian believers - as reported by persecution watchdog groups recently.

Compass Direct reported on Tuesday that some 30 officials forced their way into the home of imprisoned pastor Nguyen Hong Quang on the evening of Sunday, May 1, as a group of 13 Christians gathered to give thanks to God for Le's release on April 28 after months of intense international advocacy. The group also planned to conduct a quiet prayer session and Bible study.

According to Compass, a “work team” of local officials came to the building at 7:45 p.m. to investigate. When Nguyen’s wife, Le Thi Phu Dung, went out to speak with them, a number of police officers – who had reportedly been gathering outside the residence before the meeting began – pushed their way past her into the house.

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“The officers loudly demanded that all religious activity cease and ordered everyone to the ward police station for interrogation, asserting that religious activity was forbidden at the Quang’s address,” Compass reported.

Quang, an outspoken leader of the Vietnam Mennonite Church, had actively campaigned against religious freedom and human-rights abuses.

In December 2003, Quang held a sit-in at a Police station in Ho Chi Minh City along with other church leaders in protest for the detainment of 19 Christians - whom had been distributing religious pamphlets during the SEA Games in Ho Chi Minh City.

Quang also called attention to the illegal detention and abuse of the three evangelists whom were being held without formal charges for more than three months after their arrest. On June 25, he released a report addressed to Mennonite bodies and other churches, both in the country and abroad. The report charged that public-security officers of Ho Chi Minh City District 2 violated at least four sections of the criminal code on “temporary imprisonment.”

Le was one of four other Mennonite church workers convicted last November with Quang for “inciting people to obstruct officials from carrying out their duties” in a trial that, some say, was an attempt to take Quang out of circulation.

During the raid on Sunday, Le’s father, Le Quang Du, protested that his daughter was in very fragile health and asked that she be interrogated on-site instead. Le reportedly suffered a mental breakdown due to the treatment she had received while in prison.

Despite the protest, officers forcibly escorted her to the station.

According to Compass, Le remained silent throughout the interrogation, even though she was threatened with force. She was later released at about 10:30 p.m. along with others belonging to the group, and reportedly returned to the Quang home exhausted and terrified.

Groups such as the Voice of the Martyrs have asked for continued prayers for the spiritual, emotional and physical strength of Vietnamese Christians suffering from continued harassment in Vietnam, and for Le's recovery.

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