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Authorities in Vietnam have barred a monk from leaving the country to attend an international religious freedom conference in the United States, he told Radio Free Asia.
On Jan. 26, Venerable Thich Nhat Phuoc, whose real name is Nguyen Thanh Cuong, of the Unified Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam, was stopped by security guards at Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport from taking a flight to South Korea.
The officers cited “national defense and security” as stipulated in Article 36 of the 2019 Law on Exit and Entry as they prevented him from setting off on the first leg of his trip to the United States, he said.
The temporary exit suspension notice from airport police said the Venerable Phuoc could contact Ba Ria-Vung Tau Provincial Police to resolve the exit ban.
Speaking to Radio Free Asia on Tuesday, the monk said he planned to transit to South Korea, and continue to the United States to attend the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington on Feb. 4-5.
“There is no reason for them to ban me, I am not a transnational criminal and I have not violated Vietnamese law,” he said.
“They banned me from leaving the country. The fact that they didn’t want me to go to attend the conference shows that Vietnam doesn’t have religious freedom.”
RFA called the Immigration Department of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Provincial Police to ask for information about the ban but no one answered the phone.
Nguyen Dinh Thang, director of U.S.-based refugee support group BPSOS, is a co-organizer of the 2025 International Religious Freedom Summit. He said that as soon as he learned that Vietnam had banned Thich Nhat Phuoc from leaving, he sent a report to the United Nations and the U.S. State Department as well as the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and the summit’s steering committee.
“First, it is clear that they discriminate. Monks from the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, established by the State in 1981, were invited by the government to be part of the government delegation to the U.S. and other places to promote the regime,” he said.
“Monks of the Unified Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam were prevented from leaving the country, not only Thich Nhat Phuoc, many others such as Venerable Thich Khong Tanh and Thich Thien Minh were also banned from leaving the country.
“Second, it is clear that the Vietnamese government wants to cover up serious violations of religious freedom, so they do not allow victims who are witnesses to go and present to the international community the reality in Vietnam.”
Thang argued that by banning religious freedom conference participants from leaving, the government was further exposing to the international community the reality that Vietnam has no religious freedom.
Venerable Phuoc used to be the abbot of Son Linh Pagoda in Kon Tum province. At the end of 2022, the local government sent people to demolish the pagoda, saying it was illegally built on agricultural land. After demolishing it, the government also prevented efforts by monks to restore the pagoda, forcing Venerable Phuoc to practice at Thien Quang Pagoda in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province.
Over the years, the local government has regularly sent people to prevent the construction of facilities at Thien Quang Pagoda and Phuoc Buu Pagoda, two religious establishments belonging to the Unified Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam that are not recognized by the state.
Dak Lak Protestants monitored
As the date of the U.S. religious freedom conference approaches, several independent Protestant groups in Dak Lak province say that for more than a week they have been monitored by police and some of their members have been summoned for interrogation by the police.
On Jan. 22, the Dak Lak Provincial Police Department’s Investigation Security Agency ordered preacher Y Wen Nie to appear the district police headquarters to “coordinate in providing information” related to a case of “undermining the solidarity policy” but did not specify which case.
A family member told RFA that police came to his house to take him to the station, but he refused.
Another Protestant told RFA that recently, authorities sent people to monitor families belonging to his church with plain clothes officers “following wherever they went.”
RFA called Dak Lak Provincial Police and Cu Kuin District to verify the information but no one answered the phone.
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In previous years, Vietnamese security agencies have repeatedly prevented representatives of a number of independent religious organizations from attending regional or international conferences on religious freedom, such as the Southeast Asia Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief or the International Religious Freedom Summit.
In addition to being blocked from leaving the country, many people are arrested, interrogated and beaten, as was the case with two missionaries, Y Si Eban and Y Khiu Nie, in 2022.
Over the past two years, under the administration of President Joe Biden, Vietnam has been placed on the U.S. State Department’s “Special Watch List” for religious freedom, while the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has repeatedly recommended that Vietnam be listed as a Country of Particular Concern over its refusal to allow citizens freedom to practice their religion.
Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn.