By Maran Turner

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/KG22Ae01.html

Yet the US senators pointed to what they characterized as "serious flaws" in Father Ly's trial, flaws that flouted both Vietnam's constitution and just as importantly the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a multilateral treaty to which Vietnam and the United States are both party and gives each the right to expect adherence from the other.

The letter, an initiative organized by the political prisoner advocacy group Freedom Now and Senators Sam Brownback and Barbara Boxer, also requested information about Ly's health and welfare. The US Senate's letter came hot on the heels of the US House of Representatives adoption of a new resolution calling for the State Department to re-designate Vietnam as a CPC, as recommended by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.