Free Republic

The number of Christians killed by the Vietnam's communist government in an Easter crackdown has risen to 280, with 26 people still missing, reports International Christian Concern. ICC, which monitors the persecution of Christians worldwide, says it has obtained the names and villages of 41 of the dead. Information has been hard to come by because the government sealed off the area where the April 10 attacks occurred. The Christians were killed after demonstrating for religious freedom, an end to the confiscation of their land and an end to the abuse suffered at the hands of the Vietnamese authorities. ICC...

Four Vietnamese Christians who organized and led weekly worship services in a house church were sentenced to prison for "disturbing public order." The Christians, members of the heavily persecuted Hmong ethnic group, were handed terms of 26 to 36 months in late March 2004, according to a report released yesterday by the Center for Religious Freedom at Freedom House, a Washington, D.C. human-rights group. The four are among 10 Christians reported last month to be in custody because of their faith. They now are being held under harsh conditions, the Center for Religious Freedom said. The men, arrested in November...