A court in southern Vietnam has jailed 15 protesters includ-ing Catholics who joined nat-ionwide protests against a new cybersecurity law and a draft law on special economic zones.

On July 30, the People’s Court in Bien Hoa city sentenced Tran Nguyen Duy Quang, 35, and Pham Ngoc Hanh, a 45-year-old Catholic mother of five, to 18 months and 16 months in prison respectively, Dong Nai newspaper reported.

The newspaper said 13 other defendants were jailed for 8-10 months, while five others were given 12-14 months’ probation as they need to take care of their children. Many of the defendants are Catholics from Xuan Loc, the country’s largest diocese in terms of population. The court also confiscated 10 motorbikes belonging to defendants.

All defendants were convicted of causing public disorder, holding up banners, shouting slogans, inciting others to protest and blocking traffic for hours on June 10 at the protest in Bien Hoa, the capital of Dong Nai province.

Within weeks of the collapse of the final remnants of the Khmer Rouge in late 1998, Father Enri-que Figaredo, also known as “Kike” or “The Bishop of the Wheelchair,” went to visit some of the movement’s last-standing cadres after hearing they needed assistance.

During the decades-long civil war, many had lost limbs to land-mines and were struggling after the group’s ultra-Communist leadership had defected, died or been arrested.

While many people would have been apprehensive to say the least about entering an area that until recently had been controlled by one of the most feared revolutionary movements of the 20th century, Father Figaredo saw it as his calling. “I remember going to one of the furthest corners of Cambodia,” he said from within the grounds of Battambang Catholic Church, or Pet Yiey Chee as it is known by locals.

“They asked for my support. I went to see them and gave them chickens so they could have eggs and meat. I also gave them small loans,” most of which are still being put to use today, he said.

A group of Protestant congregations writes a courageous appeal to the government: “You consider us a threat, an error to be corrected. But wrong, we want to contribute to the well-being of the nation like everyone else.” The capital orders a catalog of unregistered places of worship. Among the churches affected, one is Catholic.

Chinese Christians “are not a force in disagreement, an error to be managed or rectified, the chosen objective of veiled or direct attacks. Thinking this way is wrong, it’s a fundamental mistake. The Christian churches, even the domestic ones, are animated by the desire for dialogue to achieve the best possible relations with the government of this new era, to achieve socialism with Chinese characteristics “of which President Xi Jinping speaks. This is the courageous appeal launched by dozens of domestic Protestant churches, struck by yet another round of restrictions on their religious freedom.

The text, signed by 34 unofficial churches, underlines how recent revisions to religious regulations adopted by the government have broken the rights of the faithful: “The normal life of a believer has been violated and hindered, and this has caused enormous emotional damage. The sense of patriotism that animates Christians has also been affected, opening the possibility to social conflicts. The situation seems to worsen day by day.”

To overcome this impasse, Christian leaders write, “the authorities must respect the religious freedom protected by the Constitution of China. That text contains many rights that in reality the single-party state does not respect. The churches have a real desire for dialogue.”

The Chinese State Council approved in 2016 a new package of regulations on religious activity termed as “draconian.” The declared aim is to eliminate the unregistered Christian cult, that of the so-called “domestic churches.” The new rules came into force on 7 October 2016, effectively prohibiting religious preaching or Christian events online or in schools.