wfn.org | ELCA Pastor Naw-Karl Mua Detained in Laos

[Andrew Bosch <abosch@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

June 13, 2003

ELCA PASTOR NAW-KARL MUA DETAINED IN LAOS
03-124-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Naw-Karl Mua, Light of Life Lutheran
Church, St. Paul, Minn., a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA), has been detained by the government of Laos since June
3.  Mua is reported to have accompanied two European journalists into
the Xieng Khouang province of Laos to help them research a story on
human rights violations and persecution of Hmong people by the Communist
government in Laos.
     Mua went to neighboring Thailand on May 12 for a missionary
project, something he has done frequently in the past because he has
family and a relationship with a Hmong congregation there.  While in
Thailand he met two journalists -- Thierry Falise of Belgium and Vincent
Reynaud of France -- and entered Laos legally on May 23 as their
translator.
     Mua failed to return to the United States for his son's high
school graduation, and his wife received an unconfirmed report that Lao
military forces had killed her husband.  The U.S. State Department
refuted that report and said the Laotian government detained Mua with
the two journalists, accused of cooperating with "bandits" to kill a
security official in the remote northeastern village of Khai.
     "Pastor Mua is clearly a leader in the Hmong community," said the
Rev. Peter Rogness, bishop of the ELCA Saint Paul Area Synod.  "He has
organized two Hmong congregations in St. Paul and has also worked with
church leaders in the ELCA Minneapolis Area Synod to serve the Hmong
community there," he said.
     Rogness added that Mua "has expressed concern to me about human
rights issues in Laos and about the need for the U.S. government and the
church to address these issues.  However, nothing we know about him
would be consistent with the charges against him by the Laotian
government."
     Mua is a native of Laos.  He lived in a refugee camp in Thailand
for one year before moving to France in 1978, where he lived until he
immigrated to the United States in 1985.  He is now a U.S. citizen.
     Educated in the Twin Cities area at National American University
and Bethel Seminary, Mua served as a pastor of Calvary Alliance Church,
St. Paul, 1992-97, and as pastor of Hmong Central Lutheran Church, St.
Paul, 1998-2002.  Hmong Central is a congregation of the ELCA.
     Mua was ordained an ELCA pastor in 2000.  He is developing Light
of Life Lutheran Church, which meets at Beaver Lake Lutheran Church,
Maplewood, Minn., and is vice president of the Association of
Asians/Pacific Islanders--ELCA.
     "Karl as a very committed pastor, who has worked hard to build the
Hmong Lutheran community in the Twin Cities and to be helpful to
ministries beyond the Twin Cities," said the Rev. Richard A. Magnus,
executive director, ELCA Division for Outreach.  "He is a quiet but
determined and effective leader.  We hope that the international
community will be effective to get him freed quickly," he said.
     Staff members of the ELCA Saint Paul Area Synod are working
through the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA), Washington,
D.C., and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Geneva, Switzerland, to
communicate with government officials and with other non-governmental
agencies for Mua's release.  LOGA is the ELCA's federal public policy
advocacy office.  The ELCA is one of 136 member churches of the LWF.
     The international press-freedom association Reporters Without
Borders (Reporters sans frontihres) and the human rights organization
Amnesty International are also appealing to the Laotian government to
release the three men.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html