Vietnamese authorities have arrested 71-year-old Pastor Nguyen Manh Hung in Ho Chi Minh City, charging him with spreading “anti-state propaganda.” Officers also detained his son during the same raid but later released him after several hours of interrogation.
Pastor Nguyen was taken into custody during a raid on his home, where police reportedly cut off electricity before entering the premises, according to Radio Free Asia, which said they handcuffed him as soon as he opened the door, citing an arrest warrant under Article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code.
The law prohibits the distribution of content deemed to be against the state, with penalties of up to 20 years in prison. Officials also seized mobile phones, laptops and some documents from the scene, the U.K.-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.
The pastor’s son, identified as Nguyen Tran Hien, was taken to the Ministry of Public Security’s Institute for Criminal Sciences on the same day. He was questioned about his father’s activities, including alleged bank transactions, before being released at midnight. He was not charged but had to surrender his phone and laptop during the interrogation process, according to witness accounts.
Pastor Nguyen was taken to a detention facility to be held for four months pending further investigation, based on statements from his family.
Authorities claim that Pastor Nguyen’s use of social media amounted to “anti-state propaganda,” reported the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern.
Investigators noted a Facebook post from Jan. 14 in which the pastor suggested that while Vietnam’s Communist Party once called land purchasers “cruel landlords,” it now refers to those who allegedly acquire land through abuse of power as “outstanding.”
Pastor Nguyen is the first individual arrested on such charges since the start of this year and the second since To Lam took office as Vietnam’s general secretary in August 2024.
Nguyen Manh Hung was previously associated with the Chuong Bo Protestant Church, an independent Mennonite congregation, and he remains a member of the Interfaith Council of Vietnam. The council advocates for religious freedom across the country. Neither the church nor the council are officially registered with Vietnamese authorities, which is required under law.
Although many of those who have encountered legal trouble in similar cases come from minority ethnic groups in Vietnam’s central highlands, Pastor Nguyen belongs to the Kinh majority group.
The pastor has faced repeated harassment from the authorities over the past 15 years. He has spoken out against reported instances of corruption and human rights violations in the country.
In 2015, he appeared before a U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee investigating alleged religious freedom violations in Vietnam.
His current detention is part of an ongoing clampdown on critics of the country’s one-party system. Cases involving criticism of the Communist Party or allegations of corruption often receive heightened scrutiny in Vietnam.
Before his ministry, Nguyen served as a soldier in the Northern Vietnam Army during the Vietnam War. He later worked in management roles and briefly entered a monastery before becoming a pastor in 2011.
