Father Nguyen Van Ly

Father Thaddeus Nguyen Van Ly is a Roman Catholic priest and prominent Vietnamese dissident involved in many pro-democracy movements. Father Ly has already spent around 15 years in prison for peacefully criticizing government policies on religion and advocating for greater respect for human rights since the late 1970s.

For his ongoing imprisonment and continuous non-violent protest, Amnesty International adopted Nguyen Van Ly in December 1983 as a Prisoner of Conscience. In November 2000, Nguyen Van Ly gained global and official attention, when members of the Committee for Religious Freedom visited him in his village during US president Clinton’s visit to Vietnam, but he was sentenced again in October 2001 to 15 years in prison for activities linked to the defence of free speech. The sentence was later reduced several times and he was released in February 2004.

Father Van Ly was arrested again in February 2007 and sentenced to eight years in prison and five years of probation for ‘conducting propaganda against the State’ by supporting the Bloc 8406 manifesto. He served in the forced labour camp K1, Ba Sao village, Kim Bang District, Ha Nam Province, in appalling conditions.

In 2009 Father Van Ly was one of ten candidates for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, which is administered by the European Parliament. In November 2009, Father Ly suffered a serious stroke and was hospitalised. Despite being partially paralyzed, he was returned to his prison cell on 11 December 2009. Sydney PEN urged the Vietnamese government to allow his release for humanitarian and health reasons, and acknowledged his case with The Empty Chair at the UTS Tower Building, Broadway. Ambassador Allaster Cox responded to our campaign by tabling concerns for Father Ly at the 7th Australia-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue in December 2009, and again in February 2010.

In February 2010, in response to reports from within Vietnam of Father Ly’s worsening condition, we wrote directly to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to seek further support for his release.

Father Ly was probationally released on March 15th and was returned to his family and diocese in stable health but with long-term ailments apparently resulting from his strokes and imprisonment. He was re-arrested in July 2011, allegedly for infringing the terms of his parole.

Here you can read Father Ly’s prosecution and testimony, translated by Viet Tan, in his attempts to secure release from house arrest. Sydney PEN will continue to monitor news of Father Ly and to urge the Vietnamese government to release him unconditionally.