Hanoi - Vietnam's government was urged Wednesday by human rights campaigners to allow members of a banned church to organize and attend a funeral for their leader without government interference. Thich Huyen Quang, the leader of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), died on Saturday.
The church, which said it planned to organize the funeral, is currently not recognised by the Vietnamese government for refusing to accept state-control.
In a statement released on their web site, Human Rights Watch wrote that the Vietnamese government had, however, announced that the state-sanctioned Buddhist church would organise the funeral for the deceased leader.
"Thich Huyen Quang gave up his liberty for 30 years in a quest for greater human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam," Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch said in the statement.
"His followers should be allowed to pay their last respects without government interference, at a ceremony of their own choosing."
Leading up to Quang's death, the state media agency had reported that "alleged extremists are reported to be trying to take over the organisation of his funeral in case he does not recover."
The Human Rights Watch statement asked that the UBCV be allowed to organize the funeral processions as they had previously announced.
The government has yet to comment. Vietnamese authorities had said on Monday that Quang's followers would be allowed to attend the funeral on Friday and visit the monastery throughout the week.
The UBCV announced plans to hold funeral services for Quang on July 11 at the Nguyen Thieu Monastery in Binh Dinh province.
According to the Human Rights Watch statement, Vietnam's government was once again inaccurately reporting the facts.
"The Vietnamese government has already taken steps to wrest control over the funeral and the patriarch's legacy by announcing that the proceedings will be organised by the state-sanctioned Vietnam Buddhist Church," the statement said.
