Below is a petition organized by:  MONTAGNARD FOUNDATION, INC.

This petition is seeking to release from prison a Christian Degar Montagnard woman named “Puih Hbat” who was arrested by Vietnamese security police on 11 April 2008 for having Christian prayer services in her home. She has not been heard of since by her family and is feared she may have been killed or suffers from torture.

To: Prime Minister of Socialist Republic of Vietnam Nguyen Tan Dung
President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Nguyen Minh Triet
General Secretary of the Vietnam Communist Party Nong Duc Manh

CC: UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance
UN Special Rapporteur on Torture
UN Special Rapporteur RR Rights & Freedoms of Indigenous People.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees
US Department of State
US International Commission of Religious Freedom
European Commission External Relations Commissioner
President of Political Groups at the European Parliament
Human Rights Watch
Amnesty International

The following petition concerns the indigenous Christian Degar Montagnard woman named “Puih Hbat” a mother of four who was arrested by Vietnamese security police for having Christian prayer services in her home on April 11, 2008. She has not been heard of since by her family. The European Commission has confirmed her arrest as noted below in the answer to an EU Parliamentary Question by MEP Marco Pannella (ALDE) and Marco Cappatto (ALDE).

E-6313/08EN Answer given by Mrs Ferrero-Waldner on behalf of the Commission (20.01.2009)
The information provided by the Honourable Member concurs with that collected by the commission. Indeed, according to reports by the Montagnard Foundation, Puih H´Bat was arrested on 11 April 2008 in her home a few days after she had been leading prayer services for Christians in her house in Ploi Bang village, Ia Chia commune, Ia Grai district, Gia Lai province. She has been detained since her arrest. She had refused to join the government-sanctioned Evangelical Church of Vietnam. According to other reliable sources contacted by the EU missions in Hanoi, Puih H´Bat was convicted of violating the law by "destruction of the unity of the people's solidarity". The accusation seems to refer to Article 87 of the Penal Code (in Chapter XI on "Crimes of infringing upon national security") on "Undermining national unity policy". According to these sources, Puih H´Bat has been sentenced to five years imprisonment in her home province. Representatives from the United States Embassy visited Puih H'Bat's home commune on 15 October 2008. Following their visit, they wrote to the Chairman of the People's Committee of Ia Grai district to enquire about the whereabouts of Puih H´Bat. They are still waiting for a reply.

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getAllAnswers.do?reference=E-2008-6313&language=EN
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+WQ+E-2008-6313+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN

We the undersigned call on the above named Vietnamese Government authorities to urgently:

1. Confirm if “Puih Hbat” is alive, release her from prison and ensure no future punitive action is taken against her.

2. Release from prison all of the estimated 300 Degar Montagnard prisoners imprisoned for their religious and political activities including those identified by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and US International Commission of Religious Freedom.

Sincerely, the undersigned

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