Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly, a Vietnamese Roman Catholic priest received a sentence of 15 years imprisonment and 5 years house arrest for allegedly undermining state unity and violating a previously issued detention order by providing testimony to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.  Father Ly was put in prison since May of 2001 and was never been given access to an attorney.

Father Ly was formally invited to testify before the Commission on International Religious Freedom but could not attend personally because he was denied permission to leave Vietnam. Instead he submitted written testimony on February 13, 2001, which urged the United States to place pressure on Vietnam and to reject a U.S.-Vietnamese trade pact as a result of ongoing human rights abuses in Vietnam.

On February 26, 2001, in response to Father Ly's testimony, the Government issued an order for the administrative detention of Father Ly in which the Government alleged that Father Ly "committed actions in violation of the laws and harmful to the national security."  On March 5, 2001, the Government publicly stated that it had placed Father Ly under administrative detention for "slandering" the Communist party and "distorting" the Government's policy on religion. Also in March, the Government banned him from operating his church.

In May 2001, a large number of policemen, possibly up to 600, surrounded and then stormed An Truyen church to arrest Father Ly.  After the arrest, Father Ly was denied access to legal counsel.  On October 19, 2001, the Thua Thien Hue Provincial People's Court convicted Father Ly after a two-hour, closed trial.  Father Ly was sentenced to two years in prison for violating the terms of his administrative detention, thirteen years in prison for "damaging the Government's unity policy," and five years of administrative probation upon release from prison.

Vietnamese human rights organizations reported that Father Ly is being held in a small, isolated cell at a hard labor camp in the Nam Ha province. Furthermore, the Government denied Father Ly contact with other prisoners and the Government prohibited guards from speaking with him.  The Government severely limited time provided to Father Ly outside his cell, generally denied him the use of pen and paper, except for allowing a monthly correspondence, and refused to give him items brought to him in prison, including Christian books and some food items.

This is not Father Ly's first brush with the Government of Vietnam.  Since 1977, the Government of Vietnam has repeatedly arrested, harassed, and jailed Father Ly for his advocacy of religious freedom.  In August 1982 Father Ly organized a pilgrimage to La Vang, a site holy to the Vietnamese Catholics dating back to 1800, despite having been denied permission by the Government. Soon after, in November of 1982, he was charged with leading the illegal pilgrimage and the Government order him expelled from his Doc So parish. Father Ly refused insisting he would only leave if the Roman Catholic leadership asked him to.  This incident culminated in the police surrounding his parish and attempting to physically remove him. Father Ly used a voice amplifier and instructed the citizens to demand religious freedom.  He remained within the parish until hundreds of police were used to arrest him.  As a result of his actions he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

Father Ly remained in prison until the end of his sentence in July 1992. Upon his release, Father Ly was banned from conducting religious activities and was placed under governmental surveillance.  Since his release, Father Ly has continued to voice dissent and champion the call for full realization of human rights in Vietnam.  For example, in 1994 he released a "10-Point Statement of the State of the Catholic Church in Hue Diocese," which is critical of the Government.

On September 25, 2003, Freedom Now filed a Petition to the United Nations Human Rights Commission Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. This Petition called for the immediate release of Father Ly. It also calls for a new trial to be conducted in accordance with the internationally-recognized rights and freedoms embodied in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other international human rights instruments.  Later, Freedom Now received the Reply of the Government of Vietnam and submitted a Response to the Reply. 

On February 12, 2004, Senator Sam Brownback convened a hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs on U.S.-Vietnamese Relations.  Senator Brownback, Ambassador for Religious Freedom John Hanford, and Georgetown University Law Professor Viet Dinh all spoke extensively about Father Ly's case.

On March 4, 2004, Freedom Now hosted a press conference with Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ), Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), and Nina Shea, Vice Chair of the U.S. International Religious Freedom Commission, to announce the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued Opinion No. 20/2003 in Father Ly's case holding that he was being held in violation of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In addition, the participants in the press conference also announced the simultaneous filing resolutions, H. Con. Res. 378 in the House, and S. Res. 311 in the Senate, calling for Father Ly's release.  See, e.g., U.S. Lawmakers Call for Release of Imprisoned Vietnamese Priest , by Stephen Steele, Catholic News Service , March 8, 2004.

From L to R, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), Jared Genser (Freedom Now), Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), Nina Shea (U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom), and Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ).

On March 31, 2004, the House International Relations Committee unanimously passed H.Con.Res. 378.  On May 11, 2004, the resolution, by now co-sponsored by 107 Members of Congress, was debated in the House of Representatives and passed the Congress on a roll call vote of 424-1.  See, e.g., House Urges Vietnam to Release Priest, Associated Press, May 13, 2004.

On November 18, 2004, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington, wrote a letter to the President of Vietnam urging Father Ly's release.

On January 31, 2005, the Government of Vietnam announced it would release Father Ly from prison and he walked free a short time later.  See, e.g., Vietnam Release Two High Profile Dissidents From Jail in Lunar New Year Amnesty, Associated Press.

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