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MONTAGNARD CHRISTIAN REFUGEES BEATEN
AND DEPORTED TO VIETNAM
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MONTAGNARD CHRISTIAN REFUGEES BEATEN AND
DEPORTED TO VIETNAM DURING PEACEFUL PRAYER RESISTANCE: DETAILS OF THE BRUTALITY
EMERGE AS UNCHR DID NOTHING
On 20 July 2005, numerous wire services
reported Cambodian authorities forcibly deported approximately 100 Degar
Montagnard Christians back to Vietnam. Various human rights groups denounced
the move as Montagnard Degars will face the real possibility of reprisals,
torture and imprisonment by Vietnamese authorities. The US State Department
voiced their concern on this incident and Deputy Spokesman Adam Ereli
stated on 20 July 2005, " We have raised U.S. objections to
this involuntary repatriation with both the governments of Cambodia and
Vietnam . We are disappointed that these individuals were repatriated
before an internationally-staffed monitoring program was in place in the
Central Highlands of Vietnam and before other solutions could be considered
for these individuals."
MFI welcomes this statement of the State
Department but calls on the US Government and in particular on Secretary
of State Dr. Rice to get personally involved and challenge directly the
Vietnamese leadership to ensure that the promotion of human rights is
a key element of US foreign policy towards Vietnam . After the Summit
between President Bush and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai last month, people
in Vietnam are expecting the US Government to increase its advocacy to
protect them from the abuses of the Vietnam Government, and they have
not yet seen this. Words need to be matched by action and "real" reform
must occur in Vietnam .
Details of this incident were
provided to the Montagnard Foundation direct from the
deported victims by mobile cell phone. See below:
Prior to the deportation of the Degar
Montagnard Christians, the Cambodian authorities entered camp number 1
to distribute rice, tooth paste and tooth brushes to the Montagnard asylum
seekers. The Degar Montagnards refused to accept them stating they did
not want to go back to Vietnam . The Cambodian officials however, insisted
they take the items and that they were not going to be deported. However,
on the night of 19 July 2005 Cambodian authorities and police entered
refugee camp number 1 in Phnom Penh and placed the 100 Degar Montagnards
there under guard.
At approximately 6am the following morning
on 20 July 2005, the Cambodian police called the Degar Montagnards out
and told them to walk toward the bus as they were going to go back to
Vietnam . The Degar Montagnard refugees however, sat down and interlocked
their arms, closed their eyes and started praying.
The police then began to beat the refugees'
hands with batons and tried pulling them apart but the refugees held on
to one another tightly and continued praying. The police then started
shocking the refugees with electric truncheons until some of them became
unconscious and fell down. The police and soldiers then dragged the Degar
Montagnard to the bus while they were screaming and crying because of
the beatings. Their cries and screams were heard outside the camp by bystanders
and other refugees.
During this time, the representative of
the UNHCR, Mr. Eldon Hager, stood there watching but did not say any word
or attempt to intervene.
Some of the Degar Montagnard refugees
from camp 2 and camp 4 left their camp and tried to enter camp 1 to assist
their brothers and sisters who were screaming but the Cambodian police
stopped them and pushed them back into their camps.
After the police loaded the Degar Montagnards
refugees on the bus, some of the deported Montagnards called the Montagnard
Foundation in the US via mobile cell phone and reported how they were
severely beaten and shocked with electric current. The Degar Montagnard
deportees also made these pleas which they hope the international community
will hear. The Degar Montagnards fear that once they are in the hands
of the Vietnamese police, they will be injected with some kind of drug
that will poison them. This is a very real fear and the Degar people learned
about this drug injection from the many Degar prisoners who have spent
time in Vietnamese security police prisons. Many prisoners report being
injected with some kind of mind altering drug that makes them incoherent
and behave as if insane. The Montagnard Foundation also notes that the
Vietnamese Sunday School teacher Le Thi Hong Lien was also given mind
altering drugs whilst in prison (as reported by Open Doors in May 2005).
Degar prisoners also do not live long after being released from prison,
some for a few weeks but so many Montagnard prisoners die within a year
after being released from Vietnamese prisons. Many Montagnard prisoners
also became paralyzed from being severely tortured in prison.
At this juncture we still do not know
what has happened to the deportees as our people inside the Central Highlands
have not yet heard any information about them.
The Montagnard Foundation
calls on:
The US government, European Union and
the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights to urgently push for
Vietnam to open the Central Highlands to international monitoring so they
can protect these deportees and prevent further human rights abuses in
Vietnam's Central Highlands.
