Detained ''Mennonite Six'' Member Transferred to Hospital
The sole woman among six Mennonite church workers sentenced to prison in Vietnam last November has been transferred to a hospital that treats the mentally ill, sources reported Thursday.
The sole woman among six Mennonite church workers sentenced to prison in Vietnam last November has been transferred to a hospital that treats the mentally ill, sources reported Thursday.
According to the Mennonite World Conference (MWC), the move to the hospital in Bien Hoa, fifty kilometers north-east of Ho Chi Minh City, follows a concerted international appeal to Vietnamese authorities to provide Le Thi Hong Lien with the care and treatment she needed.
Prior to her transfer, Le was reportedly suffering in prison from severe mental illness for many months.
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Le, a zealous church worker who specialized in teaching the Bible to small children, was arrested on June 30, 2004 nearly three months after a Mar. 2 incident involving the five men that were tried with her following their earlier arrests.
On Friday, Nov. 12, Le and the others were convicted of “inciting people to obstruct officials from carrying out their duties.” According to Compass News, those close to the situation say the charges and trial were an artifice to take out of circulation Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang an outspoken leader of the Vietnam Mennonite Church. Nguyen had actively campaigned against religious freedom and human rights abuses.
During the trial at the Ho Chi Minh City’s People’s Court, it became known that Le had been on a nine-day hunger strike prior to the trial. She reportedly appeared very weak and unwell. Her lawyer revealed he had met with her prior to the trial in the prison infirmary.
On the Monday following the trial, Le’s parents went to visit her according to an approved schedule for visitors. However, upon their visit, they were told that she was in the prison infirmary and that they should come back the next day.
Compass reported that when they returned the following day, on Nov. 16, they were made to wait for several hours before being admitted to the prison. Once inside they were told that they could not see their daughter because she had been removed to an outside hospital. Authorities refused to tell them where she was but did tell them their daughter “had a mental disease.”
On Feb. 1 her father, Nguyen Quang Du sent a letter to high officials, asking that she be treated because she was "weak and mentally deranged," the MWC reported. When Du went to visit his daughter at the Ho Chi MInh City's Chi Hoa Prison on Feb. 22, he was told that she was transferred to the Tong Le Chan prison in the jungle in Binh Phuoc province, 105 miles north of Ho Chi Minh City.
The next day he went to this prison, and later reported that his daughter's health was poor. She was reportedly unable to care for her personal hygiene, and suffering from edema. She had also not eaten for several days.
On Mar. 1 Du was informed that his daughter was taken to the Bien Hoa Mental Hospital. He later learned that she was transferred on Feb. 28.
Since then, Le's father has made a couple of visits along with Le's mother and brother.
On one visit, Le reportedly exhibited the same poor health as she had before. According to the MWC, as the family prayed with her, she did not even look at any of them. Her father expressed frustration with "those who are unable to repent and continue to do things which are not right to my daughter, yet always give the impression that they are doing all they can for her."
During another visit by Du on Mar. 12, two policemen brought Le out of a room in which she was locked, and she sat opposite him, crying, her feet still swollen and her face covered with skin infection. Writing the next day, Du described his concerns: "My daughter is not with any women at all, only with men--guards and police. I am very concerned about my daughter. Caught in a wolf trap, nothing has changed; her health situation is not improving, and her mental health is in no way restored."
"It is irrational for them to say my daughter understands what is going on. In reality, sitting opposite her, I finally came to realize that they do not have the ability to cure my daughter."
Church leaders are asking for continued prayer and support for Le and her family.
