USCIRF ADVOCATE: James W. Carr
Advocacy:
USCIRF Welcomes Release of Pastor A Dao in Vietnam (September 18, 2020)USCIRF Encourages Religious Freedom Progress on Vietnam National Day (September 3, 2020)
USCIRF Commissioner James Carr Adopts Deacon Zhang Wen Shi of North Korea and Pastor A Dao of Vietnam through the Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project (May 29, 2020)
Country:
VietnamKey Fact:
Protestant Pastor of Montagnard Evangelical Church of Christ (MECC)
Detained Since:
Aug 18, 2016
Release Date:
Sep 18, 2020
Biography:
A Dao, resident of Gia Xieng Village, Ro Koi Commune, Sa Thay District, Kontum Province, is a Protestant pastor of the Montagnard Evangelical Church of Christ (MECC). He took over as the lead pastor of this church after his predecessor, Pastor A Ga, fled to Thailand in 2013 (in July 2019, A Ga met with U.S. President Donald J. Trump during the second Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom).
A Dao has also advocated for religious freedom for his fellow church members in Vietnam’s Central Highlands and elsewhere. In August 2016, he attended the conference on Freedom of Religion in Southeast Asia and the ASEAN Civil Society Conference / ASEAN People's Forum in East Timor. At these events, he presented the plight of MECC and asked the international community for help.
A Dao was arrested on August 18, 2016, shortly after his return to Vietnam. On April 28, 2017 was sentenced to 5 years in prison for “helping individuals to escape abroad illegally” under Article 275 of the country’s Penal Code. During interrogation, he was reportedly tortured in order to extract a confession. He denied the charge and claimed his innocence.
He continues to suffer mistreatment in detention. For example, in the morning of September 1, 2018, his wife, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tuoi visited him in Gia Trung Prison of Gia Lai Province. The guards allowed a very brief visit, much shorter than in the past. His face was bruised, with traces of blood. She learned that in August 2018 the prison guards had been using other inmates to beat him. His health was poor as a result of frequent beatings.
Pastor A Dao’s health has deteriorated as a result of the harsh treatment typically reserved for prisoners of conscience. It was reported that he was tortured in late 2019. Without viable means of livelihood, his wife had to sell their land and move in with her own relatives after sending their two school-age children to live separately with different relatives. His son is now 16 years old, while his daughter is 6 years old.
On September 18, 2020, Dao was released from prison nearly a year before his expected release date.
Advocacy:
Press Release: USCIRF Welcomes Release of Religious Prisoner of Conscience Dennis Christensen, June 10, 2022Event: FoRB Victims List and Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project Update, February 25, 2021
Press Release: USCIRF Troubled by Russia’s Ongoing Imprisonment of Jehovah’s Witness Dennis Christensen, October 27, 2020
Press Release: USCIRF Troubled by Russia’s Ongoing Imprisonment of Jehovah’s Witness Dennis Christensen, July 2, 2020
Press Release: USCIRF Applauds Russian Court’s Parole of Jehovah’s Witness Dennis Christensen, June 23, 2020
Press Release: USCIRF Condemns Russian Court’s Decision to Uphold Conviction of Religious Prisoner of Conscience Dennis Christensen, May 23, 2019
Press Release: USCIRF Condemns Russian Conviction of Danish Prisoner of Conscience Dennis Christensen, February 7, 2019
Press Release: Vice Chair Arriaga Adopts Two Religious Prisoners of Conscience, September 26, 2018
Country:
RussiaKey Fact:
Danish citizen and Jehovah's Witness
Charges:
"Organizing the activities of an extremist organization” (Article 282.2(1) RCC)
Detained Since:
May 25, 2017
Release Date:
May 24, 2022
Biography:
Dennis Ole Christensen is a Danish citizen, carpenter-by-trade, and entrepreneur imprisoned for his religious activity as a Jehovah’s Witness. Since the Russian Supreme Court declared Jehovah’s Witnesses an extremist organization and banned its activities in 2017, authorities have consistently targeted, arrested, and imprisoned Jehovah’s Witnesses under the banner of counter-extremism for their peaceful religious activity.
On May 25, 2017, police, including members of the Federal Security Service (FSB), raided a Jehovah’s Witness worship service in Oryol, western Russia. Dennis, who reportedly gave a sermon during the service and unlocked the building where the service took place, was arrested and charged with “organizing the activities of an extremist organization” (Article 282.2 (1) of the Russian Criminal Code). Prosecutors produced wire-tapped phone call transcripts and secret witnesses that implicated Dennis on having discussions about a religious publication, helping organize worshipers to maintain the upkeep of their place of worship, and persuading people to worship with him. On February 6, 2019, the Zheleznodorozhny District Court found Dennis guilty and sentenced him to six years in prison at a penal colony. On May 23, 2019, the Oryol Regional Court rejected Dennis’s appeal and upheld his sentence.
In June 2020, after more than 1,000 days in detention, a judge from the Lgovsky District Court of the Kursk Region replaced the remaining time of Dennis’s sentence with a fine of 400,000 rubles. Instead of being released following the court decision, however, state prosecution challenged the ruling. In September 2020, the Kursk Regional Court reversed the prior court’s decision to release Dennis and instead sent his case back to the court for a new trial. In October 2020, the Lgovsky District Court upheld Dennis’s original 2019 sentence, citing his refusal to work in the colony, which Dennis asserts was because of health issues. In February 2021, the Kursk Regional Court upheld the Lgovsky District Court’s October 2020 ruling. Dennis is scheduled to be released in May 2022.
While imprisoned, Dennis has been forced to live in a “punishment cell” on three separate occasions for allegedly violating prison rules. In June 2020, Dennis was placed in a small, poorly ventilated cell reserved for violent offenders for 15 days after being accused of entering the dinning hall at the wrong time, not wearing his jacket to dinner, getting up late, and talking to other prisoners. In mid-July 2020, Dennis was placed in a punishment cell again for 5 days, citing his refusal to work for health reasons. In September 2020, Dennis was put in a punishment cell again after being accused of refusing to work. These arbitrary remands into punishment cells served as the court’s basis to uphold his original sentence. He is currently being held at Penal Colony No. 3 in the Kursk Region.
In September 2019, Dennis contracted pneumonia, reportedly as the result of inhumane living conditions. In May 2020, Dennis’s health continued to deteriorate after prison authorities “lost” his medical records and refused to provide him with necessary medical care. Dennis also suffers from an unspecified neurological issue that causes pain when performing specific types of labor.
On May 24, 2022, Dennis was released from prison after completing his sentence. The next day, he returned to Denmark.
Aug 12, 2020
USCIRF Releases Iran Factsheet Highlighting Senior Sanctioned Officials Responsible for Egregious Religious Freedom Violations
Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released the following new report:
Iran Sanctions Factsheet – This factsheet highlights key senior Iranian officials who the United States Department of Treasury has sanctioned for their complicity in severe violations of religious freedom. Two successive administrations have utilized the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and several Iran-specific executive orders over the past 10 years to sanction individuals for these violations, which affect Iranians across many different faith communities. The factsheet provides background on several officials linked to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as well as two of the infamous “hanging judges” who are known for having imposed unjustly harsh sentences on Iranian citizens following peaceful protests in 2009.
In its 2020 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended the State Department redesignate Iran as a “country of particular concern” for systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations.
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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or Danielle Ashbahian at [email protected].