A Vietnamese church leader from the Hmong ethnic minority has been released as part of Vietnam's National Day amnesty of over 5,300 prisoners on 2 September.

|TOP|Ma Van Bay's case has been the subject of widespread international pressure, particularly during recent months. His release, which closely follows the visit to Vietnam of John Hanford, US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, comes at a crucial juncture in Vietnamese relations with the USA.

Vietnam is seeking both its removal from the American list of 'Countries of Particular Concern' for religious freedom violations, and the establishment of Permanent Normal Trade Relations with the US, one of the final obstacles before its highly sought-after ascendancy to the World Trade Organisation.

Ma Van Bay was initially imprisoned in 1995 in Ha Giang Province, on a poorly substantiated charge, Christian Solidarity Worldwide has told Christian Today.

Fearing a sentence of up to twelve years as stated in his indictment papers, he escaped from prison after six months, and fled with his wife to the Central Highlands.

In November 2003, he was re-arrested and summoned under a false allegation to the local police station, where Ha Giang police were present to arrest him.

|AD|In April 2004, he was convicted of undermining Vietnam's national unity, and his sentence was doubled as a consequence of his escape.

The first arrest of Ma Van Bay and three other church leaders occurred in the context of local authorities harassing the church, report CSW. Sources close to Ma Van Bay suggested that they may have been seeking a pretext for his arrest, as an active church leader.

Ma Van Bay's scheduled release coincides with that of well-known 'cyber-dissident' Pham Hong Son but no more than two other prisoners of conscience.

Some Vietnam commentators have suggested that the freeing of so few prisoners of conscience out of a total amnesty list of over 5,300 shows insufficient progress in the area of human rights.

But Tina Lambert, CSW's Advocacy Director, said, “We are delighted to hear about the planned release of Ma Van Bay, and sincerely hope that he is allowed to freely reintegrate into his church community without difficulties. Vietnamese authorities continue to suppress Christian activities to a great extent, particularly among the Hmong and other ethnic minorities. As Vietnam strives to take its place on the world economic stage, we urge the Vietnamese government to treat the genuine religious freedom of its citizens as a matter of the utmost importance.”