BANGKOK: A Vietnamese pastor and human rights activist was arrested on anti-state charges on Wednesday, state media reported.
Y Nuen Ayun is a leader in the Montagnard Evangelical Church of Christ, an unregistered independent Protestant church based in the hill tribes of the country’s Central Highlands.
The US State Department says the church and its members have faced “severe harassment” from Vietnamese authorities for engaging in allegedly anti-government activities.
Having been arrested and interrogated in the past, Y Nuen Ayun was designated as “at risk” by Project 88, a Vietnamese rights group that tracks political persecution.
State media outlet VNExpress said Wednesday that police arrested Y Nuen Ayun for “repeatedly providing fabricated information about religious activities in the Central Highlands, slandering the government and causing difficulties for the people.”
A US State Department report on religious freedom in Vietnam from 2019 said that he and other religious leaders have been publicly denounced by Vietnamese police and told they must leave their Christian churches if they wanted to remain in their communities.
The Montagnards are an ethnic minority belonging to various hill tribes from Vietnam’s Central Highlands who have long been at odds with the country’s communist government.
Montagnards sided with the US-backed South during Vietnam’s decades-long war, and some want more autonomy while others abroad advocate independence for the region.
VNExpress said another man, Huynh Ngoc Tuan, was arrested on Tuesday for “making, storing, disseminating, propagating information, documents, and items aimed at opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” on his Facebook page.
A court sentenced him to 10 years in prison in 1992 for anti-government activities.
Human Rights Watch said in April that Vietnam was expanding its crackdown on dissent, targeting even ordinary social media users for posts criticizing the state.
State media outlet Vietnam News Agency reported Thursday that five exiled members of outlawed political party Government of Free Vietnam were prosecuted in absentia for “activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s government.”
Vietnamese pastor arrested on anti-state charges
https://arab.news/28r8e
Vietnamese pastor arrested on anti-state charges
- Y Nuen Ayun is a leader in the Montagnard Evangelical Church of Christ
- State media outlet VNExpress said Wednesday that police arrested Y Nuen Ayun for “repeatedly providing fabricated information”
Ukraine president to meet European allies after Trump criticism
- Talks between Ukrainian and US officials in Miami ended on Saturday with no apparent breakthrough
- President Donald Trump accuses Ukrainian leader of not reading the US proposal to end the war with Russia
LONDON: Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky was due to meet with European allies in London on Monday, after President Donald Trump accused him of not reading the US proposal to end the war with Russia.
It comes after days of talks between Ukrainian and US officials in Miami ended on Saturday with no apparent breakthrough, with Zelensky committing to further negotiations.
The Ukrainian president will be received in London by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, along with the German chancellor and French president to discuss the negotiations.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper is meanwhile expected in Washington on Monday, where she will meet her American counterpart Marco Rubio.
“The UK and US will reaffirm their commitment to reaching a peace deal in Ukraine,” the Foreign Office in London said, announcing Cooper’s visit.
Moscow has meanwhile continued to strike its neighbor, wounding at least nine people overnight Sunday to Monday, according to Ukrainian officials.
‘Disappointed’
Zelensky said he joined his negotiators for a “very substantive and constructive” call with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during the Miami negotiations.
“Ukraine is committed to continuing to work honestly with the American side to bring about real peace,” Zelensky said on Telegram, adding that the parties agreed “on the next steps and the format of the talks with America.”
But Trump criticized his Ukrainian counterpart on Sunday, telling reporters “I have to say that I’m a little bit disappointed that President Zelensky hasn’t yet read the proposal, that was as of a few hours ago.”
Witkoff and Kushner had met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin last week, with Moscow rejecting parts of the US proposal.
French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of Monday’s talks slammed what he called Russia’s “escalatory path.”
“We will continue these efforts with the Americans to provide Ukraine with security guarantees, without which no robust and lasting peace will be possible,” Macron wrote on X.
He added: “We must continue to exert pressure on Russia to compel it to choose peace.”
Hot and cold
Washington’s initial plan to bring an end to the almost four-year war involved Ukraine surrendering land that Russia has not been able to win on the battlefield in return for security promises that fall short of Kyiv’s aspirations to join NATO.
But the nature of the security guarantees that Ukraine could get has so far been shrouded in uncertainty, beyond an initial plan saying that jets to defend Kyiv could be based in Poland.
Trump has blown hot and cold on Ukraine since returning to office in January, initially embracing Putin and chastising Zelensky for not being grateful for US support.
But he has also grown frustrated that his efforts to persuade Putin to end the war, including a summit in Alaska, have failed to produce results and he recently slapped sanctions on Russian oil firms.
