HANOI — Vietnam's most prominent political dissident was headed to the United States on Tuesday after being released under a government amnesty program announced last week, while a human rights group reported the release of a prominent Buddhist monk and scholar.
Writer and journalist Doan Viet Hoat boarded a plane for Bangkok, Thailand, and hoped to reunite with family members in Minnesota this week. Thich Tri Sieu, of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, was reportedly also freed Tuesday.
Vietnamese officials had announced Friday that Hoat, along with fellow political dissident Nguyen Dan Que, would be released as part of a general amnesty for 5,219 prisoners to coincide with the country's anniversary of independence today.
Hoat told reporters in Bangkok on Tuesday that he had been forced to leave his homeland. "I regret that they don't let me stay in Vietnam," he said. "I don't want to leave my country. I love my country. I want to contribute to freedom and democracy."
Hoat and Que have been accepted for resettlement in the United States, according to U.S. Embassy officials in Hanoi. Que was released to family members in Vietnam but has indicated that he does not plan to leave for the United States.
Though international observers lauded the releases, they said it is premature to consider the move a signal of restrictions on political and religious freedom being eased by the Communist government.
"This amnesty should be seen as a very significant step by the Vietnamese authorities, but it's still too early to say whether this was a one-time gesture or whether it marks a real change in human rights policy," said Demelza Stubbings of Amnesty International.
In its latest country report, the group estimates that there are at least 49 prisoners of conscience being held, including top Buddhist religious leaders.
Sieu was arrested in 1984 along with Buddhist scholar Thich Tue Sy and 10 other monks and nuns from the United Buddhist Church. Sieu and Sy received death sentences in 1988 on charges of trying to overthrow the government, but both sentences were commuted to 20 years' imprisonment after international protests.
Two Vietnamese Americans, Jimmy Tran and Ly Tong, also were released Tuesday. Tran, who flew to San Jose, was arrested in 1993 for trying to blow up a statue of Ho Chi Minh. Tong, a onetime resident of Orange County who flew to San Francisco on Tuesday, drew international attention in 1992 when he hijacked a commercial plane over Ho Chi Minh City and tossed out 50,000 leaflets calling for the overthrow of the Communist regime. He was arrested after parachuting from the plane.
