Commissioner Jackie Wolcott sent the following letter to Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh and Mrs. Tran Thi Hong on May 15, 2017.

Click here to view the Vietnamese translation of the letter.

Dear Pastor Chinh and Mrs. Hong:

I write to you as a Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and a person of faith who is deeply concerned about your well-being.  I want to express my Commission’s and my own support and solidarity with you as you continue your struggles in support of religious freedom.  Your plight rightfully has drawn the attention of people worldwide.

This is a poignant time to highlight your struggle.  Twelve years ago this month, the United States and Vietnam reached an agreement requiring the Vietnamese government to improve religious freedom conditions in your country.  Sadly, and as you know all too well, this agreement largely has been followed by more restrictions, not more freedom.

Tragically, Pastor Chinh, your detention for more than five years of your 11-year prison sentence is clearly and completely unjust. I understand that the Vietnamese authorities are denying you vitally needed medical treatment as you serve prison time for the alleged crime of “undermining national solidarity.”  As a minister to the Christian community in the Central Highlands, the government should protect, not punish, your voice for peaceful criticism of restrictions on religious freedom.  

Mrs. Hong, we understand that you too have been subjected to frequent government surveillance and harassment, including one year ago this month when Vietnamese police officers harshly interrogated you, burst into your home and assaulted your son.  Please know that I will not forget your family’s ill-treatment.

As a religious freedom advocate myself, I have been deeply inspired by both of you and your resiliency under these cruel conditions.  As long as you remain in prison, Pastor, and as long as the Vietnamese authorities continue to unfairly treat you and your family, please be assured that I am dedicated to publicly and privately working on your behalf, so that your family can be reunited and you can freely practice your faith, openly and without further threat.

With deepest respect,

Ambassador Jackie Wolcott

Ambassador Jackie Wolcott is a Commissioner at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a U.S. government body that monitors the universal right to religious freedom. 

USCIRF’s Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project highlights the plight of individuals who have been imprisoned for their religious beliefs, practices or identity.  To learn more about this project or to interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected].

INDONESIA: USCIRF Denounces the Recent Conviction and Sentencing of Jakarta’s Governor for Blasphemy

USCIRF Calls for the Release of Those Accused of or Convicted of Blasphemy

Washington, D.C. –  The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) denounces the recent conviction of Jakarta’s governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama – also known as “Ahok” – on blasphemy charges.  Ahok, a Christian of Chinese descent, was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to two years in prison despite the prosecutors’ recommendation that the blasphemy charges be dropped.

“USCIRF remains very concerned with countries such as Indonesia that have blasphemy laws.  These laws are used to intimidate and harass individuals, including religious dissenters and minorities and violate their freedom of religion and belief,” said USCIRF chair Thomas J. Reese, S.J.

In its 2017 annual report, USCIRF again placed Indonesia on its Tier 2 list as it has since 2004. Tier 2 includes nations in which the religious violations engaged in or tolerated by the government are systematic, ongoing, and/or egregious.

“We call on the Indonesian government at the central, provincial, and local levels to comply with the Indonesian constitution and international human rights standards. The Indonesian government should repeal article 156(a) of the Penal Code and unconditionally release anyone sentenced for ‘deviancy,’ ‘denigrating religion,’ or ‘blasphemy’,” said USCIRF Vice Chairman Daniel Mark who traveled to Indonesia in 2015 to assess religious freedom conditions.

To view the full USCIRF 2017 Annual Report visit www.USCIRF.gov. The Indonesia chapter may be found here and the Bahasa Indonesian translation here.

To interview a Commissioner please contact [email protected] or John D. Lawrence, Director of Communications ([email protected]/+1-202-786-0611).

What will Iran’s May 19 presidential election mean for the Baha’i, the country’s largest non-Muslim religious group? Given that every candidate was handpicked by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s Guardian Council, the answer is simple: Nothing good.

The Islamic Republic considers the Baha’i faith heretical because it was founded after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, who is perceived in Islam as the final prophet. Since its founding 1979, the Iranian regime has taken this theological assertion to a violent extreme and used it to intensify persecution of Baha’i believers.

Discrimination against this community, which numbers around 300,000, is codified into Iranian law. The group is banned from careers in the military and is often denied other employment since many companies don’t want to run afoul of the authorities. Baha’is cannot legally leave property to their heirs.

Tehran makes it impossible for the Baha’i to practice their faith openly. Unlike other minority religious groups such as Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, Baha’is aren’t recognized in the Iranian Constitution. They are therefore legally forbidden from establishing places of worship or independent religious associations.

Government officials at all levels won’t recognize Baha’i marriages as they do for Muslims, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, and make it almost impossible for Baha’is to obtain death certificates. Baha’i cemeteries, holy places and community properties often are confiscated or desecrated. Many religious sites have been demolished, primarily by elements of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

But employment and religious worship barriers are the least of the Baha’is problems. Since 1979, Iran’s security and intelligence agencies have executed more than 200 Baha’i leaders. Over the past year, pro-government media outlets have published hundreds of articles that vilify the Baha’i and encourage violence against them. In September, two men stabbed to death Farhang Amiri, a Baha’i member, outside of his home in Yazd in central Iran. Both men confessed to killing him for being an “apostate.”

While the government rarely brings these attackers to justice, it routinely arrests and jails innocent Baha’is. Nearly 1,000 Baha’is have been arbitrarily arrested over the past decade alone. At least 90 remain imprisoned for religious “crimes.” Over the past year alone, dozens have been arrested.

Sunday marks the ninth anniversary of the imprisonment of six of the “Baha’i 7”: Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Behrouz Tavakkoli, Vahid Tizfahm and Fariba Kamalabadi. These Baha’i leaders are serving 20-year sentences based on groundless charges ranging from espionage to “corruption on the earth.” Thanks to a 2013 change in Iran’s penal code that reportedly allows sentences to be served concurrently, not consecutively, all seven should be released next year. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, or USCIRF, on which I serve, urges their immediate release.

I am personally working on behalf of the two female members of the Baha’i 7, Ms. Kamalabadi and Mahvash Sabet. Ms. Sabet is a 64-year-old educator with two grown children. Fired from her job as a school principal for her religious faith, she joined an underground teaching movement for fellow Baha’is, the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education, where she worked for 15 years before her arrest.

Ms. Kamalabadi is a 54-year-old psychologist, teacher and mother of three. Banned as a Baha’i from studying at a public university, she obtained a master’s degree from the Advanced Baha’i Studies Institute, where she joined Ms. Sabet to teach Baha’i youth. Along with the other five imprisoned Baha’i leaders, both of these women have languished in prison for nearly a decade in deplorable conditions.

Iran’s election next week holds little hope for the Baha’is or for other religious minorities. It holds scant hope for the hundreds of Sunni and Sufi Muslims and Christians incarcerated for religious reasons, including Maryam Naghash Zargaran, on whose behalf USCIRF Commissioner Cliff May is advocating. And it holds no hope for Jews and Zoroastrians, who also suffer discrimination.

How will we know when real change arrives? We will know when Tehran immediately releases the Baha’i 7 and all other religious prisoners of conscience, and when it replaces religious repression with religious freedom for every Iranian.