Vietnam: 'Vietnam has promised to release Mennonite church worker Le Thi Hong Lien, 20, two months short of completing her one-year prison term. Today Agence France-Presse quoted a European diplomat in Hanoi announcing that Ms. Lien would be among a group of 7,751 prisoners to be granted a special amnesty on April 30. An American diplomat confirmed the news to a representative of the Vietnam Mennonite Church. Two months ago, Lien, who taught children’s Bible classes prior to her arrest, was transferred to the Bien Hoa Mental Hospital to receive treatment for the effects of prison torture. According to visitors who saw her there, her body shows signs of severe abuse and she has difficulty using her jaw, which was broken by beatings.' (Compass Direct)