Free priest, US senators tell Vietnam

Last Updated: Thu, 2 Jul 2009 13:27:00 +1000

American senators have urged Vietnam's president to free a Catholic priest.

Father Nguyen Van Ly had already spent 16 years in prison for rights advocacy activities when he was jailed for eight years in March 2007.

The Catholic priest was charged with spreading propaganda against Vietnam's communist government.

A group of 37 senators urged President Nguyen Minh Triet to free the 63-year-old cleric, calling his trial seriously flawed.

The Vietnamese embassy in Washington has not commented on the receipt of a letter from the politicians.

Human rights groups say Father Ly's imprisonment justifies putting Hanoi on a US religious freedom blacklist.

The United States put Vietnam on that list in 2004, but removed it before former President George W. Bush's visit to Hanoi in November 2006.