HANOI, Vietnam - Vietnam has rejected charges from a U.S. government commission that it suppresses religion, calling the accusation a gross interference in the country's internal affairs.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh said Saturday that the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom slandered Vietnam by distorting the status of religion in the Communist nation.
''It is necessary to reaffirm that Vietnam has so far never tried, imprisoned or put any religious figure under house arrest for religious reasons,'' Thanh said.
''Only those who violate the law are brought to trial in conformity with the law,'' she said in a statement carried by the official Vietnam News Agency.
Michael Young, chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, testified in the U.S. Congress on Wednesday that, despite increased religious practice in Vietnam in recent years, the government ''continues to suppress organized religious activities forcefully.''
Vietnam's government only allows religious activities by seven officially sanctioned organizations with leaders approved by the Communist Party. Young said the government monitors, detains and penalizes people who have engaged in ''illegal'' religious activities.
A dissident Roman Catholic priest, Father Thaddeus Nguyen Van Ly, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in October for ''undermining national unity'' and violating house arrest after he submitted written testimony to the U.S. commission criticizing restrictions on religion in Vietnam.