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resulting in malnutrition, illness and lengthy indoctrination sessions. For
example, Buddhist monk Yoshida Ganshin is said to have lost the use of his
legs after 13 years of incarceration in a re-education camp where he was
subjected to electric shock torture.
It has further been alleged that prisoners who are ill and unable to work
are not allowed to eat normal rations since their working capacity is
diminished. Handicapped persons who work less are said to be also forced to
eat less. For instance, they are allegedly allowed only 12 kilograms of rice
per month instead of the subsistence ration of 15 kilograms of rice which most
prisoners are said to receive. It has also been alleged that many prisoners
are not allowed to receive packages of food sent by their families.
According to the sources, the aforementioned prisoners of conscience are
mixed with common criminals in some cases. In many instances, no doctors or
medicines are allegedly available for the prisoners who are forced to resort
to the use of traditional medicines such as herbs and roots, when they are
available. As a result of the above, inmates are said to die at the rate of
10 to 15 per cent a year.
According to the information received, numerous priests and religious
believers as well as persons who are said to have been critical of the church
hierarchy and the Government, are currently alleged to be detained in a type
of administrative detention which does not involve a formal trial or
sentencing. The majority of these persons is reportedly detained in labour
and re-education camps. The situation of a number of these persons has been
summarized as follows:
Cases involving Protestant clergy and religious believers:
Rev. Tran Dinh Ai, the leader of a house church movement in southern
Viet Nam, was arrested on 27 February 1991, allegedly because of his contacts
with the overseas Pentecostal church. Rev. Ai was reportedly sentenced to
three years of administrative detention, without going on trial or being
convicted. He is said to have initially been detained at Phan-dinh-Luu prison
in Ho Chi Minh City and was not allowed to receive family visits for four
months. In November, he was moved to a labour camp in Song Be province and is
reported to be suffering from severe headaches, back pain and a liver
infection.
Pastor R’Mah Boi, a young Christian leader in the highland districts of
Chu Pa, Gia Lai, and Kontum, belongs to the Jerai minority. He was arrested
in August 1989 reportedly for organizing a working party of about
200 tribesmen of Christian faith to help 2 tribal elders who had been ordered
by officials to harvest a large rice field when they were caught holding house
church meetings. Pastor Boi is said to have been detained and imprisoned on
the basis of Administrative Law No. 135. He has reportedly not been formally
tried or convicted and is believed to be in arbitrary detention at prison camp
A-20 in Dong Xuan, Phu Yen province.
Pastor Vo Minh Hung, a minister from Pleiku, is said to have been
arrested for the third time in December 1989 during a house church meeting in
his home. He was reportedly detained for the first time for 1 week and the