Laos, Vietnam Troops Execute 4 Hmong Christians

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1104/S00423/laos-vietnam-troops-execute-4-hmong...

April 15, 2011, Washington, D.C. and Vientiane, Laos

Christian persecution and religious freedom violations have continued to expand and spread to key provinces in Laos, according to the Center for Public Policy Analysis and other rights organizations tracking the issue. Yesterday, four Lao Hmong Christian women were executed for their Christian faith in Xieng Khouang Province, after their Bible was confiscated, by government soldiers and police from Laos and Vietnam.

Vietnam People's Army troops and secret police from Hanoi have been deployed in increasing numbers in key provinces in Laos to boost the Lao People's Army, and communist party efforts, to hunt, persecute and eliminate independent Christian, Animist and Buddhist congregations and religious believers who seek to worship outside of strict state monitoring and control. Laotian and Hmong minority Christian and Animist believers continue to be hunted , brutally tortured, and killed by the Lao military in significant numbers in key provinces in Laos.

“There has been a tragic and major upswing in religious persecution in Laos by Lao and Vietnamese military and communist party officials in the latter part of last year, 2010 as well as within recent months, this year,” said Philip Smith, Executive Director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA) in Washington, D.C.
http://www.centerforpublicpolicyanalysis.org

Smith continued: “An unarmed group of four Lao Hmong Christian women were summarily executed yesterday, on April 14, 2011, in Xieng Khouang Province, Laos, by government troops for their Christian faith.”

A special unit totally some 150 Lao Peoples Army soldiers, led by Vietnam secret police and military advisors from Hanoi and Vinh, confiscated the group's only Bible and brutally and repeatedly raped at least two of the younger Lao-Hmong women prior to shooting them at point blank range in the head and torso with automatic weapons; their husbands and 26 children, who were forced to witness the atrocity, were beaten, tied up, later blindfolded, and have now disappeared.”

“The upswing in religious persecution in Laos is in part the result of the increased intervention by Vietnam military-civilian authorities in Laos, and Lao Peoples Army (LPA) communist leaders, who are aggressively cracking down on independent Christian, Buddhist and Animist believers with secret police, army and militia units,” Smith said.

It's not illegal to be Christian in Laos.  It is illegal to persecute people because of their religious beliefs.

Article 6 and Article 30 of the Lao Constitution guarantee the right of Christians and other religious minorities to practice the religion of their choice without discrimination or penalty.

I know many Christians in Vientiane.  They hold church services every Sunday, have Bible study meetings, etc. and come under no pressure to renounce their faith.

There is even a Catholic cathedral with Christian nuns.

The article above has the 'smell' of unsubstantiated propaganda.  I have looked and can find no original source for the claims made by this Washington organisation.

Old Man saids there's Catholic cathedral in Laos, and Lao people has freedom of religion.

Larb Dip wrote on 17^th Apr, 2011 at 6:02am:

Larb Dip wrote on 17^th Apr, 2011 at 4:45am:


Didn't you read the posts above before asking about churches?

There a mosque in central Vientiane as well as the Catholic cathedral. 

Old Man

Larb Dip wrote on 17^th Apr, 2011 at 10:33pm:


I've never seen women wearing burkhas in Vientiane, but I don't go into the city often these days.

What pilgrims?  The churches, cathedral and mosque are for residents.


Old Man

Yes, I'm a Buddhist.  Not a full-time monk.  Every so often, I take the Buddhist precepts, have my head shaved (only takes 2 minutes) and don the robes for a meditation retreat in a local village temple - usually for a month at a time, as in this picture in Wat Thadokkham near our resort.

llX wrote on 16^th Apr, 2011 at 8:10pm:


What is this independent Buddhist and Animist is also not allowed in Laos?