Joint Statement by Overseas Vietnamese

Regarding the Serious Health Situation of

Father Nguyen Van Ly Requiring Immediate Attention

November 21, 2009

 

 

            Father Nguyen Van Ly just had a serious stroke on November 14, 2009 while in custody at Ba Sao Prison Camp, Nam Ha Province, North Vietnam.  The stroke has incapacitated him on his right hand side, although his mind is still very alert, fully conscious and firm in his convictions.

This is the second time that Father Ly has had a stroke with the first time four months ago when he had a lighter one on July 12, 2009.  During this whole time he was kept in an isolation cell despite having high blood pressure and without appropriate treatment.

Father Ly had been sentenced by the communist authorities to eight years in prison to be followed by five years of house arrest in a famous trial on March 30, 2007, in which he was violently gagged by a security police officer.  For his convictions, Father Ly has undergone a total of more than 17 years in jail, a result of four different trials, simply because he steadfastly kept up with his non-violent struggle for freedom of religion, democracy and human rights for the whole people of Vietnam.

 

            In the present circumstances of Father Nguyen Van Ly’s serious health condition, a cause for great concern calling for immediate emergency care, we the representatives of various mass organizations and associations in the overseas Vietnamese community, solemnly declare:

1. That we demand the Vietnamese communist authorities to immediately and  unconditionally release Father Nguyen Van Ly so that he and his family can have full control of the decision to seek treatment as they see fit.

2. That we seek the help of governments and parliaments of free nations, as well as that of international human rights NGOs, so as to put pressure on Hanoi to release at once Father Nguyen Van Ly and to treat him fairly and in a humanitarian way in accordance with international human rights norms.

      

Written on November 21, 2009, and subscribed to the Overseas Vietnamese Organizations listed below: 

 

Vietnam Human Rights Network

Nguyen Ba Tung, President (714) 897-1950 

 

National Congress of Vietnamese Americans (NCVA)

Nguyen Ngoc Bich, Executive President (703) 971-9178

 

Vietnamese Interfaith Council in the USA

Pastor Tran Thanh Van, President (714) 531-1419

 

Movement of The Vietnamese Laity In Diaspora

Do Nhu Dien, Coordinator (760) 451-9379

 

Committee for Religious Freedom in Vietnam (CRFV)

Ngo Thi Hien, President (301) 365-2489

 

International Committee To Support The Non-Violent Movement For Human Rights in Vietnam

Nguyen Quoc Quan, M.D., Chairman (703) 354-3825

 

Center of Democracy for Vietnam, Montreal, Canada

Dr. Lam Thu Van. President  (514) 342-3106

 

The Vietnamese-American Community Of USA

Nguyen Van Tan, Chairman of The Executive Board (503) 806-7384

 

 

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