Hanoi - Vietnamese security police have prevented a UN religious envoy from entering a southern Buddhist pagoda, in a move that highlights rigid controls in the country, a leading dissident monk, Thich Quang Do, said yesterday.
A UN source confirmed that UN Special Rapporteur for Religious Intolerance, Mr Abdelfattah Amor, was barred from entering a pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City but gave no details. However, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman denied Mr Amor had been stopped from entering the monastery.
