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The men had been accused of anti-government activities and involvement with foreign political movements in order to weaken the government. The Southeast Asian country is ruled by the communist Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party.

CSW, based in New Malden, England, learned Tuesday that three of the men were released on July 3 but does not know when the others were let go. Seven are leaders of a church in the town of Paksong in Songkhone District: Sipasert Phuadaeng, 52, Bounyarn Robkhob, 58, Tem Chanthara, 56, Kong Phaeng Phrasawat, 36, Phouwanard Trivilaisook, 40, and two others identified only as Mr. Kiloy, 36, and Mr. Puang, 60. The eighth man, Mr. Khemphet, 30, is described as an active member of the church.

The British group said in a statement that the men "were unable to bear the strain of their conditions, which for some included being held in stocks and handcuffs, and agreed to renounce their religion." Later, however, they were overcome with remorse and grief about their decision.

Just before the arrests, authorities gave churches in Songkhone district a deadline of June 1 to close down their meetings, CSW said. Jubilee Campaign, a Christian human rights organization based in Guildford, England, said last week it has received information that the central government of Laos has secretly ordered local authorities to close down churches throughout the country, starting in the countryside.

Laotian Christians have long suffered oppression and persecution under Communism. However, in recent years this persecution has so intensified that it is classified as "extreme," with Laos now appearing with Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and China as the worst persecuting nations in the July 2001 Open Doors World Watch List.

The arrest of the eight Protestants continues a pattern of repression consistent with the government's stated aim to rid the country of Christianity, CSW said. In 1999, the Laotian Government declared that Christians were the "number one enemy of the State," labeling Christianity as an "imperialist foreign religion" backed by the enemies of Laos (primarily the USA).

In addition to repeated arrests of Paksong church members and their relatives this year, parishioners have been told at gunpoint to sign forms to abandon their faith. Many also have been threatened with loss of land, livelihood, and medical care.

The document believers are being forced to sign acknowledges (among other things) that they regret their practice of Christianity, that they admit the goodness of the (Communist) Party, and if found exercising the foreign religion, they accept the consequences.

The government's campaign against Christians intensified in 1998, according to CSW human rights officer Elisabeth Parker. In January 1998, police raided a church meeting in the capital city Vientiane and arrested 44 Laotians and five foreigners. Eight of the Christians were imprisoned until June 1999, when pressure from foreign governments, particularly the United States, led to their release.

Parker said the Lao government is particularly concerned about a growing evangelical Protestant movement within the Hmong, a minority group that lives mostly in the mountains on both sides of the Laos-Vietnam border. The Pathet Lao Communists, who have ruled since 1975, despise the Hmong for their alliance with the French colonialists in the 1950s and later with the United States during the Vietnam War.

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July (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45