USCIRF says Myanmar must ‘control’ its military

A new, critical report on religious freedoms in Myanmar by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom says the major challenge facing Aung San Suu Kyi’s government is “bringing the military under civilian control”. The report says the Burmese Army, which, due to constitutional provisions, is beyond civilian control, has . . . Read More

Three priests killed, another tortured in Mexico

Three Roman Catholic priests have been murdered and another tortured in Mexico since September, reports the Associated Press. Rev. Jose Luis Sanchez Ruiz was found alive three days after his abduction in Catemaco town, Veracruz state, with ‘visible signs of torture’ according to a Roman Catholic Church statement. His kidnap . . . Read More

UN urges Vietnam to stop ‘torture’ of Christian

The UN has criticised Vietnam’s “repeated arrest and torture” of a female Christian activist whose husband, a pastor, is in jail “for peaceful religious activities”. Tran Thi Hong was targeted for “informing the international community of human rights violations against her husband”, says a statement from the UN High Commissioner . . . Read More

Vietnam Christian woman’s ‘intolerable’ harassment

The harassment of a Vietnamese Christian human rights activist, whose husband, pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh, is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence, has become “intolerable” . Tran Thi Hong was recently questioned by the authorities about interviews with the foreign press, her “unauthorized, unapproved and illegal” Lutheran faith and her . . . Read More

N Korean torture victim changes story

A man who escaped from a North Korean prison camp and became the subject of a best-selling book that described how he was tortured has admitted minor parts are untrue. Shin Dong-hyuk has now said that accounts of his torture and the execution of his mother and brother are slightly . . . Read More