Laos: Worshipers arrested in weekend sting
| Publisher | Radio Free Asia |
| Publication Date | 26 March 2012 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Asia, Laos: Worshipers arrested in weekend sting, 26 March 2012, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4f7c5a7319.html [accessed 31 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
2012-03-26
Police nab five Lao Christians accused of conducting illegal religious activities.
A Protestant church in Vientiane. Torbenbrinker / Wikipedia
Authorities arrested five Christians attending a prayer service in southern Laos on Sunday as part of a recent crackdown on Christianity in the region.
The five Lao Christians, two men and three women, were detained in Savannakhet province's Ad-Saphanthong district and charged with organizing an illegal religious activity.
Their church, located in Boukham village, was not registered with religious officials and was shut down by police in the Sunday raid.
Boukham village was the scene of an earlier arrest in which seven Christian leaders were detained during pre-Christmas services in December last year after leading some 200 followers in prayer.
The prayers triggered an angry response from neighbors who pelted the group with stones when the worshipers refused to end their session.
The seven leaders were released after paying a fine.
Christianity is often viewed with contempt by officials in largely Buddhist but Communist-ruled Laos, and the religion has been described as a "trick of Western imperialism."
The population of Laos – some 6.5 million people – is 67 percent Buddhist and two percent Christian.
Watch listed
Last week, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) maintained Lao on its watch list for the world's worst religious freedom offenders in 2012 based on "serious religious freedom abuses" which, the commission said, continued during the past year.
The congressional watchdog said that while religious freedom conditions have improved for the majority Buddhist groups and for Christians, Muslims, and Baha'is living in urban areas, the government restricted religious practices through its legal codes, and religious rights abuses continued in some rural areas.
USCIRF documented violations by rural officials against Protestants including detentions, surveillance, harassment, property confiscations, forced relocations, and forced renunciations of faith.
Lao authorities took over another church building in Savannakhet province in February, saying church officials were not given authorization to operate the building, in a move blasted by religious rights groups.
The raid on the church in Xayburi district's Kengweng village was led by a district Communist Party committee member, religious affairs officials, and the deputy chief of police.
The action followed similar raids on a church in Dongpaiwan village in September last year and on another church in Nadeng village last month.
All three churches will be reopened as schools, local officials said.
Reported by RFA's Lao service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Link to original story on RFA website
