HO CHI MINH CITY, March 19 (Reuters) - The elderly chairman of a dissident Buddhist sect says he was detained and beaten for 30 hours in communist Vietnam at the weekend but has been allowed to return home under police guard, a reliable source said on Monday.
Authorities in a southern province, meanwhile, denied a report from an overseas branch of the same Hoa Hao sect that one of its supporters had doused herself with petrol on Monday morning and burned herself to death in a protest to demand religious freedom.
The source, who did not want to be identified, said 82-year-old Hoa Hao chairman Le Quang Liem had told him by telephone he was held in police custody more than 24 hours from early Saturday and hit in the face and stomach.
Liem also said his daughter had been beaten after she went to the police station where he was held in Ho Chi Minh City to demand his release, the source said.
Police have refused to comment and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh said she had no information.
Religion is ahighly charged matter for Vietnam and with other rights issues, could hold up the country's hopes for early ratification of a landmark trade pact with the United States.
Communistofficials in the southern province of Dong Thap also denied a report from Nguyen Van Coi, chairman of the Overseas Hoa Hao Buddhist Association, who told Reuters that 75-year-old Nguyen Thi Thu had burned herself to death in Tan Hoi village.
"No suchthing happened here, that's wrong," an official from the local people's committee said.
LAST WORDS
The overseas association said police took the body after using batons to beat off Buddhist who tried to stop them. It said before she died, Thu's last words were "Religious Freedom for Vietnam" and "Religious Freedom for the Hoa Hao Buddhists."
The reported incidents came on the 54th anniversary on Monday of the disappearance of Hoa Hao prophet Huynh Phu So after his abduction by communist independence forces in 1947.
A diplomat quoted sources in Dong Thap's neighbouring province An Giang, where the Hoa Hoa are most prevalent, as saying several hundred supporters marked the day peacefully in Phu My Village, which believers call Hoa Hao Village.
The source said Liem had told him he was allowed to return to his home in Ho Chi Minh City late on Sunday morning but his house was guarded by about 20 police officers.
Liem had said he had refused in custody to sign a document agreeing to spend two years under house arrest, but his current status was unclear given the police guard.
The status of more than a dozen other Hoa Hao supporters the association said were detained as well on Saturday, was also unclear. It said they included deputy chairman Nguyen Van Dien.
Diplomats said the motive for the reported detentions appeared to have been to prevent big protests during the anniversary.
A Hoa Hao statement last week said Liem planned a protest on Saturday to support Catholic priest Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly, who was detained this month after urging the U.S. Congress not to ratify the trade pact because of rights abuses.
RIGHTS ISSUES COMPLICATE
Vietnam's communist government is under heightened scrutiny in the United States because of the pact and U.S. officials have warned ratification could be complicated by rights issues.
Last month, Liem joined Ly and two other dissident religious leaders to form the Vietnam Interfaith Council to promote religious freedom.
The report of Liem's detention came just after foreign journalists were allowed a first visit to two provinces of the central highlands after ethnic protests last month. Authorities there were at pains to stress religious rights played no role.
The Hoa Hao claim about four million adherents in Vietnam and have long complained of persecution stemming from their previous armed opposition to communism during the Vietnam War.
Hanoi denies abusing religious rights but the most recent U.S. State Department rights report criticised its record and said groups like the Hoa Hao were harassed and restricted.