Vietnam Amnesty empties U.S. “list of religious prisoners”, said diplomats
Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet has decided to grant amnesty to more than 5,000 prisoners on the occasion of the National Day, local and foreign media reported.
Among the pardoneds are Pham Hong Son and Ma Van Bay, both in the list of "prisoner of concern" by the United States. Bay, a protestant ethnic Hmong from northern Ha Giang province, considered by the United States as detained for religious reasons.
The French news agency, AFP, quoted diplomats in Hanoi as saying that with the release of Ma Van Bay, the list of religious prisoners recently handed over to Vietnam by US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom John Hanford III, is now empty.
Source: AFP, VNA
