HANOI - Vietnam faces pressure from the United States (U.S.) and international human rights groups to release a Catholic priest who was rearrested by the Authority of the communist state after being released from prison last year for medical care.
Father Nguyen Van Ly who co-founded the pro-democracy group that Vietnamese authorities are prohibited from re-arrested on Monday (25 / 7) then. 60-year-old priest was released last year for the treatment of brain tumors after sentenced to prison for 8 years for alleged involvement in anti-government propaganda in 2007.
Responding to the Foreign Ministry Spokesman Vietnam promised to release him as soon as possible. "Father Ly had a brain tumor and allowed to continue treatment," said deputy State Department spokesman Heide Bronke Fulton.
He added, "There is no single person who was imprisoned for stating the right to freedom of speech."
President Barack Obama has built a relationship with Vietnam in order to support a country that is undergoing a border conflict with China in the South China Sea.
Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Leonard Leo, who advises the government warned that the U.S. has helped Vietnam in mediating with relevant Chinese South China Sea issue.
"In return, they hold the Catholic priest who peacefully defend religious freedom and rule of law," he said sarcastically.
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