Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
March 29, 2010

A dissident Vietnamese priest, the Rev. Nguyen Van Ly, who has spent three years behind bars for pro-democracy efforts and suffered two strokes in detention, was released on March 15 from a prison near Hanoi and driven in an ambulance back to his hometown of Hue, according to his sister, Nguyen Thi Hieu (pictured). She said he was in better health than the last time she saw him. Father Nguyen had suffered strokes in July and November and for a time was unable to walk. In 2007 he was sentenced to eight years in prison for disseminating anti-government propaganda during a dramatic trial in which police muzzled him for shouting anti-Communist slogans and accusing Vietnamese officials of practicing “the law of the jungle.” The priest has spent more than 15 years in prison since 1977, according to Freedom Now, a Washington-based law firm that serves as Ly’s international counsel.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

As I sit sore and tired, I cannot also help but think that the N.Y.C. Marathon for me is a thin space, a space where I can easily see God’s presence in the world.
Robert McCarthyNovember 04, 2024
Archbishop Domenico Battaglia of Naples has been named as one of the prelates Pope Francis will make a cardinal on December 7th.
“I will not vote for president this year,” Monica Brent writes. “I cannot in good conscience vote for Donald Trump, for many reasons. However, Kamala Harris’s stance on abortion makes her a no-go for me, as well. ”
Our readersNovember 04, 2024
Pope Francis, your encyclical on the Sacred Heart, “Dilexit Nos,” is beautiful and heartwarming. And for Catholics in the United States, the timing was perfect.
Joe Laramie, S.J.November 04, 2024