Biography:

Nguyen Cong Chinh is an evangelical pastor originally from the Quang Nam province, and has lived in the Central Highland provinces of Kon Tum and Gia Lai since 1985.  He is a long-time pro-democracy activist and critic of the Vietnamese government’s ban on preaching in the Central Highlands. He is also the founder of the Vietnamese People’s Evangelical Fellowship, a charitable organization that ministers to ethnic minority communities in the central highlands, including ethnic minority prisoners and their families.  He and his wife, Mrs. Tran Thi Hong, a Lutheran member of the Vietnamese Women for Human Rights organization, have five children.

In 2011, Pastor Chinh was imprisoned on false charges of undermining national solidarity.Prison authorities reportedly physically and verbally abused him, and he spent approximately one month in solitary confinement. His health rapidly declined: he suffered from high blood pressure, acute nasal sinusitis, arthritis, and stomach inflammation and was denied treatment or access to medication.

While the Vietnamese government unjustly imprisoned Pastor Chinh, they also harassed his wife, Mrs. Tran Thi Hong, monitoring her closely, sealing up her house, and preventing her from meeting with her husband or procuring medicine for her sick daughter.  On March 30, 2016, local authorities violently prevented Mrs. Hong from meeting with then U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom David Saperstein.  Although she eventually was able to meet with the Ambassador, she suffered for this meeting: she endured a beating which left her with injuries to her head, knee, leg, hand and foot. This visit was followed by a three-day interrogation during which Mrs. Train Thi Hong was pressured to sign a document stating that her meeting with the Ambassador was illegal and that she was a member of an illegal and subversive church due to her Lutheran faith. After refusing to sign, she was abused for four hours by female officers.

Pastor Chinh was released from prison on July 28, 2017, almost six years before the end of his sentence. The Vietnamese government released him on the condition that he immediately leave the country in exile.  He and his family now reside in the United States.

Biography:

The armed religious-political movement known as the Houthi sparked a civil war in Yemen when they turned against the government in 2015. They have promoted sectarian divisions and have cracked down on the tiny Yemeni Baha’i community.

On December 3, 2013, authorities linked to the Houthi-run National Security Bureau arrested Hamad bin Haydara, a Yemeni Baha’i, while he was at work. On December 17, the authorities raided his home, confiscating documents and laptops. They detained him without charges and Haydara virtually disappeared until September 2, 2014, when his wife, Ilham Zara’i, was finally permitted to visit him.

In the succeeding years, the National Security Bureau has delayed providing official charges against Haydara, held him in a prison in the middle of a conflict zone, and limited his access to adequate healthcare. On January 8, 2015, the official charges finally came; they included allegations of being a spy for Israel, attempting to make certain locations within Yemen a homeland for the followers of the Baha’i Faith, offering literacy classes that followed a curriculum deemed incompatible with Islam, and attempting to convert Muslims to the Baha’i Faith.

On January 2, 2018, Haydara did not appear when his case resumed. Nonetheless, the judge sentenced Haydara to death as well as ordering the confiscation of his assets and closure of Bahai institutions. After a series of delayed hearings, a Houthi appeals court upheld this decision on March 22, 2020. On March 25, however, the Houthi Supreme Political Council announced that they would release Mr. bin Haydara and 24 other members of Yemen’s Baha’i community.

On July 31, 2020, Haydara, along with five other detained members of the Baha’i community in Yemen were released. Charges against members of the Baha’i community remain in place despite their release.

Biography:

Most Venerable Thich Quang Do was born on November 27, 1928 in Thai Binh Province. Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) since 2008, Thich Quang Do has been a lifelong advocate for democracy, religious freedom, and human rights.

Vietnamese authorities have repeatedly targeted, harassed, and detained Thich Quang Do both for practicing his faith and for his tireless advocacy for religious freedom and related human rights. For example, in 2001, he launched a plan called “Appeal for Democracy in Vietnam,” which was supported by more than 300,000 Vietnamese from different faith backgrounds, as well as international stakeholders. As a result, the government placed him under administrative detention without trial at Thanh Minh Zen Monastery and prevented him from receiving medical treatment despite suffering from diabetes.

During a brief reprieve beginning in June 2003, Thich Quang Do attempted to participate in a UBCV Assembly called by then Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang. But in October 2003, authorities accused him of “possessing state secrets” and again confined him to Thanh Minh Zen Monastery where he was under constant surveillance and effective house arrest.

USCIRF met with Thich Quang Do at Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in August 2015.

On October 5, 2018, the Venerable Thich Quang Do was expelled from Thanh Minh Zen Monastery. After a brief visit to his home province of Thai Binh, he returned to Ho Chi Minh City and currently resides at Tu Hieu Pagoda, where Vietnamese authorities continued to regularly surveil him. On February 22, 2020, the Patriarch passed away at the age of 91.