Vietnam has jailed an out-spoken Catholic blogger, known for commenting on social issues, for allegedly trying to undermine the state.

The People’s Court in Lam Dong province on July 7 senten-ced Nguyen Quoc Duc Vuong, 29, to eight years in jail and three years’ probation for “mak-ing, hoarding and disseminating anti-state propaganda.”

The blogger from Don Duong district was arrested in September last year.

According to a four-page indictment, Vuong had posted and spread 98 video clips and 366 articles against the govern-ment on Facebook.

He was also accused of taking part in illegal protests in Ho Chi Minh City in 2018 against the approval of the country’s contro-versial cyber security law and proposed special economic deve-lopment plans. The indict-ment said his posts criticized the country’s socialist system and Ho Chi Minh, the father of commu-nism in Vietnam. It said Vuong was heavily influenced by his anti-communist father, who was a soldier in the South Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War.

Catholics in Indonesia have welcomed the appointment of Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo of Jakarta as a new member of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. Many of them stressed the need for him to promote tolerance in the multi-religious country. Cardinal Suharyo, also the chairman of the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference and an ordinary of the Military Ordinariate of Indonesia, was among more than 20 new Pontifical Council members announced by the Vatican on July 8.

Groups of Muslim volunteers are burying Christians who have died from the coronavirus. This is seen as a great example of interfaith harmony, and videos of their work have gone viral in Bangladesh.
According to World Health Organisation data, almost 160,000 cases have been reported in Bangladesh with about 2,000 deaths, including a dozen Christians. Fearing contagion, very few people in the country are willing to touch the bodies of infected people, living or dead.

Muslim volunteers, who live isolated from their families, have been trained to bury those who die from the respiratory disease.

As part of the burial process, they first spray a disinfectant (a mixture of water and alcohol) onto the body of the dead, then bathe it with a solution of soap and water, and rub it with a cloth. Finally, the body is wrapped in a shroud and placed inside a special plastic bag.
Sahidul Islam, head of Al-Manahil Foundation, a charity based in Chittagong, notes that the burial of Christians is a new experience for his group.

“Despite the current Covid-19 pandemic, which is posing its share of challenges in Pakistan, religious intolerance and discrimi-nation in recent months have increased”: is the complaint of the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP), within the Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
The statement sent to Agenzia Fides states: “Recently, Nadeem Joseph, a Chri-stian from Peshawar, and his mother-in-law Elizabeth Masih were brutally attacked by the Muslim Salman Khan and his sons a few days after Nadeem Joseph bought a house in the Colony in Peshawar, Pakistan on June 4, 2020, in a Muslim dominated neighbourhood and his neighbours did not tolerate the pre-sence of a non-Muslim in their neighbour-hood.” Police arrested several members of Salman Khan’s family in connection with the incident.

NCJP strongly condemns this act of violence. In a joint statement, Archbishop Joseph Arshad, Chairman of the Commi-ssion, National Director Fr Emmanuel Yousaf and Executive Director Cecil S. Chaudhry declare: “Pakistani society has become increasingly intolerant and living as a religious minority is becoming more and more difficult. There are many similar incidents that are not reported. Religious minorities continue to face discrimination as part of their daily lives,” it stresses, citing refusal to give food supplies or provide relief to non-Muslims during the pandemic, or that of poor personal protection for health workers, who are at the forefront. Bishops call on law enforcement agencies to do everything possible to catch the main culprit who brutally killed Nadeem Joseph and bring him to justice, noting the “clear violation of human rights” and “an act against the law that cannot go unpunished.”