HANOI - A Norwegian member of parliament was detained and asked to leave Vietnam last week after visiting dissident religious leaders under house arrest, a Norwegian embassy official said on Tuesday.
The politician, Lars Rise of the opposition Christian People's Party, said in a statement on the dissident Free Viet Web site he was arrested in the central city of Hue on April 9 and "sent out of the country" after lengthy interrogation.
"He was taken in for questioning," a Norwegian embassy official said. Asked if he was expelled, the diplomat said: "Shall we say he was asked to shorten his visit."
Rise's departure from Vietnam followed meetings with 73-year-old dissident Buddhist monk and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Thich Quang Do in Ho Chi Minh City and with dissident Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly in Hue.
Both men are under restriction at their places of worship after criticising religious restrictions imposed by the communist authorities.
POLITICIAN ON TOURIST VISA
The diplomat said Rise had come to Vietnam on a tourist visa, not with an official parliamentary delegation.
"In Vietnam's view he violated the law by coming as a tourist then going to see persons under arrest," the diplomat said, adding she had no statement yet from her ministry in Olso.
Vietnam's Foreign Ministry did not comment, but released late on Tuesday a statement from a tourist company which arranged Rise's tourist visa.
Nguyen Xuan Hien, director of Hoa Binh Province Tourism Co's branch in Hanoi, said Rise had violated Vietnam's immigration regulations and was "forced to leave Vietnam" on April 11.
Rise's statement included pictures of himself and the two religious leaders.
Rise said Ly had reported he was under house arrest at his church, watched by police, with his phone disconnected and with no access to email or ordinary mail.
The statement said that during the meeting the church was surrounded by about 100 policemen and Rise was arrested and taken in for two interrogation sessions, one lasting six-and-a-half hours and the other for five hours.
It said the first interrogation lasted until 3 a.m. and resumed at 8 a.m. and that in Ho Chi Minh City, Rise "and company" were "locked into a prison and then a hotel and from there sent out of the country."
Rise himself could not be reached for comment.
Last week, Hanoi slammed a call by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom for Washington to withhold support for hundreds of millions of dollars of World Bank and International Monetary Fund loans because of rights abuses.
Norway's aid programme to Vietnam is worth about $6 million a year and goes to fisheries, energy and administrative reform projects.
08:50 04-17-01
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