VIETNAM

Six ethnic minority Montagnards have been sentenced to between seven and seventeen years in jail for “threatening national security,” the Vietnam News Agency reports. The men, from the Central Highlands, are Protestants who follow an evangelical Christian church not sanctioned by the government. They claim their tribal lands have been taken to grow cash crops. The men were found guilty of inciting protests in 2004 which called for religious freedom. Even after imprisonment, the men face an additional five years of surveillance. (Assist News)