Canvasopedia

The authorities in Vietnam have confirmed that a badly burned body has been found in a park in the central coastal city of Danang. The Paris-based Buddhist Information Bureau says it was that of a man who committed suicide on Sunday by burning himself as a protest against religious repression.

Such suicides in Vietnam, although they do not happen often, are a reminder of the monks who self-immolated in the 1960s to protest against religious repression by what was then a US-backed government in South Vietnam. It is the most dramatic of non-violent protests. Ho Tan Anh, a 61-year-old farmer and member of the banned Buddhist Youth League, chose to make his protest on National Day, when many in Vietnam were celebrating the anniversary of independence from France.
Warning
The Buddhist Information Bureau in Paris says he left a letter complaining about the repression of his group and the intimidation of its members. Religious practice is approved in Vietnam, but only through authorised organisations. The government insists that religious rights are respected. But this latest incident will raise some heat among rights groups who have documented human rights abuses. It will also be noted by legislators in the United States who are being pressured to link a landmark bilateral trade agreement with improvements in human rights. Ho Tan Anh had written that other members of his group could follow his Sunday protest. The Buddhist Information Bureau says that his remains were identified in a Danang hospital by his brother. But they say security police oversaw a speedy burial, refusing permission for a family funeral because the body carried no identity papers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1527055.stm