By Father John Flynn, LC

http://www.catholic.net/index.php?option=zenit&id=28706

However, not all U.S. government officials are so convinced that religious freedom is improving in Vietnam. On March 12 the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) issued a press release criticizing the arrest of Le Thi Cong Nhan.

Le Thi Cong Nhan is a prominent human rights and religious freedom dissident, according to the release. She was released from prison two months short of completing a three-year sentence for "anti-government activity," but she was detained again just a few days later for telling reporters that her time in prison confirmed her "faith" in the peaceful "struggle for human rights and democracy in Vietnam."

"USCIRF has given the Obama Administration and the U.S. Congress compelling evidence of severe and ongoing religious freedom violations in Vietnam," the press release stated.