Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today reiterated its call for the Vietnamese government to release Nguyen Bac Truyen, one of USCIRF’s religious prisoners of conscience. Nguyen Bac Truyen is a Vietnamese religious freedom advocate and Hoa Hao Buddhist. On April 5, 2018, he was sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment on spurious charges of “carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration.”
“Nguyen Bac Truyen’s trial, which occurred two years ago and lasted for just one day, was a travesty of justice,” noted USCIRF Commissioner Anurima Bhargava, who advocates for Nguyen Bac Truyen as part of USCIRF’s Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project. “He should be home with his family, especially now that the coronavirus pandemic has increased the public health risk to prisoners and his health problems have escalated since his imprisonment.”
U.S. Representatives Harley Rouda and Zoe Lofgren also advocate on behalf of Nguyen Bac Truyen through the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission’s Defending Freedoms Project.
In its 2019 Annual Report, USCIRF called on the U.S. government to designate Vietnam as a “country of particular concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act. As documented in a recent Country Update, USCIRF has received regular reports of Vietnamese authorities harassing independent Buddhists, Catholics, Hoa Hao Buddhists, Cao Dai, Hmong and Montagnard Protestants, and other religious groups.
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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on threats to religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Danielle Ashbahian at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
