Protestant Pastor Detained in Vietnam for Allegedly Spreading Anti-State Messages

Vietnam Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam. |

Vietnamese authorities have arrested 71-year-old Pastor Nguyen Manh Hung in Ho Chi Minh City, charging him with spreading “anti-state propaganda.”

According to Radio Free Asia, the police conducted a raid on Pastor Nguyen's home, reportedly cutting off electricity before entering. They handcuffed him as soon as he opened the door, acting under an arrest warrant based on Article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code, which prohibits the distribution of content deemed harmful to the state and carries penalties of up to 20 years in prison.

In addition to taking the pastor into custody, authorities seized mobile phones, laptops, and various documents from the scene, as reported by the U.K.-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

Nguyen Tran Hien was taken to the Ministry of Public Security’s Institute for Criminal Sciences the same day and was questioned about his father’s activities, including alleged bank transactions. He was released at midnight without charges, but he had to surrender his phone and laptop during the interrogation.

Pastor Nguyen has been taken to a detention facility where he will remain for four months pending further investigation, according to statements from his family.

Authorities allege that his social media usage constitutes “anti-state propaganda,” as reported by the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern.

Investigators highlighted a Facebook post from January 14, in which the pastor compared the Communist Party's past characterization of land purchasers as “cruel landlords” to its current reference to those who allegedly acquire land through power abuses as “outstanding.”

He is noted to be the first individual arrested under such charges this year and the second since To Lam took office as Vietnam’s general secretary in August 2024.

Pastor Nguyen was previously affiliated with the Chuong Bo Protestant Church, an independent Mennonite congregation, and remains a member of the Interfaith Council of Vietnam, an organization that advocates for religious freedom in the country. Neither the church nor the council is officially registered with Vietnamese authorities.

Though many individuals facing similar legal troubles in Vietnam come from minority ethnic groups in the central highlands, Pastor Nguyen is a member of the Kinh majority group.

Over the past 15 years, he has experienced repeated harassment from authorities and has publicly criticized corruption and human rights abuses in the country. In 2015, he testified before a U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee investigating religious freedom violations in Vietnam.