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Laos: Christians Imprisoned & Murdered
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John Henry
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Aug 25, 2007 13:04 PDT
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Laos: Hmong Christians Killed, Imprisoned IN
CRACKDOWN
Vietnamese, Lao forces searching rice paddies and
mountains and shooting on sight. LOS ANGELES, August 7
(Compass Direct News) -- Soldiers, police and others have
killed at least 13 Christians in Laos in the past month in a swarming
crackdown on Hmong villagers falsely accused of stirring rebel dissent,
sources told Compass.
In the sweep, encouraged by communist village leaders and others who have
falsely accused the Christians of being separatist rebels, authorities
have arrested and imprisoned about 200 members of a 1,900-strong Laos
Evangelical Church in Ban Sai Jarern village, Bokeo province in
northwestern Laos.
The hunted Christians are largely Hmong refugees who had fled persecution
in Vietnam. Those killed include Hmong who went into hiding when joint
forces of Vietnamese and Lao police began rounding up Christians falsely
accused of supporting Gen. Vang Pao in August 2006.
Among those killed last month was Neng Mua, a Christian who slipped back
to his native Fay village after hiding in the mountains from the police
round-up. On July 7 he went to a local villager's house to beg for food,
but his one-time friend instead shot him dead as a suspected member of
the "liberation army," a Christian source said.
Police have searched intensively for Christians in rice fields and
mountains and are shooting them on sight, said the source, who requested
anonymity.
"Many Christians were killed and badly injured," he said.
"Women and children were arrested and sent to prison."
On July 8, police shot Seng Wue to death by a roadside after he and other
Christians suffering fatigue and hunger had come out of hiding and
surrendered, according to Christian sources. The sources heard report of
soldiers shooting two other Christians dead at a checkpoint on the road
to Don Sawan village, but their names were still unconfirmed.
On July 13, soldiers reportedly shot to death a person resembling Jong
Wue Lao, a committee member of the Ban Sai Jarern church. He had escaped
authorities on July 3, though his whereabouts were unknown. Soldiers
reportedly killed eight to 10 Christians in the incident, but sources
said it was unclear whether those deaths included Lao and his companions.
On July 12, police arrested Jue Por Wang, head of the Ban Fay church, and
Wang Lee Wang, head of the Ban Sawan church. A Christian source said
police forced members of their churches to declare that the leaders and
others on police target lists were funded by Vang Pao to train Christians
to fight the government.
In May and June, about 100 soldiers from Vietnam, along with authorities
from Laos and Vietnam, arrived in Ban Sai Jarern to look for Hmong
Vietnamese. There were 600 to 800 Lao soldiers and 200 Vietnam soldiers
deployed in Bokeo province as of July, Christian sources said.
Soldiers have secured Ban Sai Jarern and nearby communities and prohibit
people from entering or leaving, sources said. As a result of the
restrictions, they said, the Ban Sai Jarern church has not been able to
meet for worship.
With the area swarming with soldiers and police, many area men fled on
July 4 out of fear of further reprisals or imprisonment, sources said.
Those who escaped to the mountains have sent word that there is no food;
they have resorted to eating banana leaves to survive.
Lao and Vietnamese officials have imprisoned an estimated 52 families
from five villages: Ban Sai Jarern, Huay Klay, Fay, Numsamork and Chai
Pathana. That is nearly all of the known Hmong families from Vietnam in
the greater area, including 30 Hmong families in Ban Sai Jarern.
Hostile to Christians
Members of the Ban Sai Jarern church, which also serves worshippers from
Fay and five other villages, said the congregation has never in anyway
cooperated with Vang Pao or anyone seeking a separate state.
"We are law-abiding citizens," one church member said,
"and we want to present our case through legal means, not through
armed struggle."
Vietnamese and Lao communist authorities have long been hostile to the
Hmong since previous generations aided U.S. forces during the Vietnam
War. Associating Christianity with the United States, authorities assume
all Hmong Christians support Vang Pao, who fought alongside U.S.
soldiers.
"Christianity is not an American religion, it is a universal
religion," said one source. "We are not a political group
seeking independence from the present Lao government -- on the contrary,
we are actively engaged in building a better nation by faithfully
adhering to the teachings of the Bible."
In June, U.S. authorities arrested Vang Pao and nine associates in
California over an alleged plot to topple the communist regime in Laos.
Fast-growing churches in Bokeo province, Christian sources said, have
drawn the ire of both Lao and Vietnamese governments for providing aid to
Christian Hmong refugees from Vietnam and others fleeing persecution in
other parts of Laos. Until this past year, they said, the 4,000 Hmong
Christians in Bokeo had not faced persecution.
The crackdown in Ban Sai Jarern stems from an August 2006 capture in
Vietnam of two Hmong women who had returned from the village to visit
parents-in-law and other relatives, sources said. Vietnamese officials
sent them to prison but were unable to force them to divulge the
locations of other Vietnamese who had fled to Ban Sai Jarern and other
villages in Laos.
On October 5, Lao and Vietnamese officers went into Sai Jarern village,
seized five leaders of churches in Vietnam who had fled to Laos and sent
them back to Vietnam. One of the church leaders, Saoma Lao, is reportedly
dead, but area Christians have not confirmed that information. He was
chairman of the Christian Church in Geahkoh village in Vietnam before
fleeing to Laos.
Christians sources have confirmed that another one of the five Hmong
Christian leaders, Jongneng Yang, is alive. But his condition and
whereabouts, like that of the other leaders, are unknown. The others
missing are Jue Lao, Thayeng Lei and Lei Yang, a church youth leader.
Chaicheng Lee, a teacher and treasurer of the Ban Sai Jarern church, is
also missing. Christian sources said police arrested the 38-year-old
church leader on July 4 after raiding his home and taking documents
containing names of church leaders, members and activities. Area
Christians said police were forcing detained believers to declare that
Pastor Lee was training Christians funded by Vang Pao to overthrow the
government.
Police took Pastor Lee out of prison on July 16, Christian sources said,
adding that no one knows where they took him.
Enemies of the Faith
Accusing the Christians of armed rebellion and disclosing their
whereabouts are local village heads, communist committee members and
others hostile to Christians. Sources said these local opponents urged
police to send the Christians to prison.
For every 10 to 15 Christian families in a given village, they said, a
local leader monitors their whereabouts and activities, especially when
they leave the area. Besides accusing the Christians of joining forces
with Vang Pao and being part of an "American religion," local
villagers have charged them with dealing drugs and breaking religion
laws.
"We were never engaged in the use or selling of illegal drugs,"
said one area Christian. "And even people who want to become
Christian after receiving healing, we advise them to first inform the
government about their intention to become Christians, and after they
receive their permit that's the only time we accept them."
Furthermore, he added, the churches secure permits for all large
gatherings, and they even invite officials to join their celebrations.
"We appeal to the Lao government to release our imprisoned brothers
and sisters, for they are innocent of the charges against them," he
said. "We appeal to the Lao government to grant Christians the
freedom to worship God and give them the rights due to them."
Local Christians, closely monitored by the government, are not allowed to
use mobile phones, obtain food or leave the village without permission, a
Christian source said.
"All these restrictions are imposed for suspicion that they will
contact Gen. Vang Pao and the other Christian escapees," he said.
Christians are prohibited from worshipping together and fear that police
will besiege the church. Area villages are under tight police control.
Authorities are still pursuing Christian leaders who escaped and are
following closely Christians who go to other villages, sources said.
The Christians said there are about 50 refugees living near the border
with Thailand who need food and water; they are "broken because
their wives and children are in prison."
Source:
http://www.compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&;idelement=4979
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"Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them
which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body."
(Hebrews 13:3)
"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall
revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against
you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great
is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were
before you." (Matthew 5:10-12)
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