A member of a Vietnamese Buddhist sect burns himself to death

Radio Australia, Sep, 4, 2001
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/newsdaily/s357225.htm
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A member of a dissident Buddhist sect is reported to have burned himself to death on Vietnam's national day to protest against repression of religion in the Communist country.

A Buddhist support group says Ho Tan Anh aged 61, burned himself to death yesterday, Vietnam's national day, in a park in central Danang City.
(...)

The Paris-based International Buddhist Information Bureau says Anh, a leader of the Buddhist Youth Movement in central Vietnam, claimed that 13 other leaders of the movement have pledged to follow him by immolating themselves to appeal for religious freedom.

In his letters, before his death Anh is reported to have urged the international community to pressure Vietnam to free all people detained because of their religious beliefs, promote and respect religious freedom, and abolish Article Four of the Vietnamese Constitution, which grants political mastery to the Communist Party.

The Buddhist Youth Movement was founded in the late 1930s by the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, one of a number of independent religious groups now banned by Vietnam's Communist government, which allows only seven recognized religious organizations.
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