Communist Vietnam Appoints New President Amid Persecution of Muslim Community

Vietnam’s Communist Party has named minister of public security To Lam as the new president in an unprecedented reshuffle of the country’s leadership, Anadolu Agency reported yesterday.

Lam has been public security minister since 2016 and has taken a hard line on human rights movements in the country.

In modern times, Vietnamese Muslims have suffered from harsh conditions. They are denied the right to hold high-ranking positions or join the military.

The situation became even worse after the communists took power in Vietnam in 1975. The persecution of Muslims increased, as the Vietnamese already harbored hatred towards Islam, in addition to becoming communists. Hostility against Muslims has doubled, and the massacres and persecution have also intensified.

After consolidating power, the Vietnamese Communists employed a horrific method of torture. They established seventy large detention centers across the country, which they called “criminal rehabilitation and reconstruction centers.” In these facilities, they imprisoned thousands of Muslims, and the captives were not released until the authorities were confident they would not survive more than a few days. This inhumane practice resulted in the deaths of many detained Muslims.

Islam is a minority religion in the Southeast Asian country, with over 80,000 Muslims scattered throughout the nation.