Montagnards: Vietnamese Military Purchases Spy Equipment Used for Persecution

2006-08-24

Below is a report by the Montagnard Foundation, an organisation which purpose is to preserve the lives and the culture of the indigenous, Montagnards (Degar) people of Vietnams Central Highlands:

In May 2006 the Vietnam Army bought mobile telephone monitoring equipment worth half a million US dollars. The spy systems are called P-GSM systems and produced by the English company Silver Bullet. The sale was brokered by two Israeli companies Elta Electronics Industries (a subsidiary of Israel Aircraft Industries) and Aikap. It is noted that in 2002 the Vietnamese Ministry of Police bought a similar mobile phone surveillance system manufactured by a US-based company called Verint Systems.

These monitoring systems are being used by the Vietnamese military and police to spy on conversations of Vietnamese citizens who speak to each other inside Vietnam and outside of the country. The Vietnamese military then arrests, tortures and sometimes even kills those arrested for merely speaking to people outside of the country. Christians, Buddhists and other dissidents who speak out about human rights abuses find themselves arrested, tortured and imprisoned. Currently over 350 Degar Christians are in Vietnamese prisons for being involved in the Christian House Church movement, for speaking out against human rights abuses or fleeing to Cambodia - and it is well known that Vietnam persecutes anyone who criticises the government or who the government disapproves of and the authorities severely restricts human rights monitors from having access to the Central Highlands. The US State Department also continues to have Vietnam listed on the Country of Particular Concern (CPC) Watch list, (nations that are the most egregious violators of religious freedom) and that house Church Christians have been tortured for their faith.

The Montagnard Foundation hereby appeals to Christians worldwide, Human Rights advocates and Governments around the world who value freedom to ensure their countries and these abovementioned companies do not sell products in Vietnam used to repress human rights, that may even result in the deaths of innocent people. The Vietnamese government is one of the most repressive in Asia and has for decades officially persecuted Montagnard Degar Christians.

Source: Montagnard Foundation