A Catholic priest from Vietnam is facing an anxious wait to find out if he will be deported to face potential imprisonment because of his religion.
The priest, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claims he has also protested against the communist government in his home country and will become a target of the state if he is returned.
He has appealed against a home office decision refusing his asylum application and appeared at an immigration hearing in Glasgow on Tuesday.
Read more: Asylum-seeking Christian family fear death if forced to leave Glasgow after six years
Vietnam has a poor record on human rights and non-profit organisation Human Rights Watch claims the situation “seriously deteriorated” in 2017.
Amnesty International also states that arbitrary arrests and imprisonment are not uncommon, while beatings, intimidation and harassment on the grounds of religious or political beliefs have also been reported.
Read more: Vietnam's sparkling economic surface hides deep divisions
In the priest’s case, he told the hearing that he became involved in protesting against the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) - the country’s sole political party - after a priest in his local province was attacked.
He said he took part in a number of demonstrations and was arrested shortly after one in May last year.
Lawyer Martin McCallum, representing the Home Office, asked the priest why he was arrested. He replied: “Because I joined that demonstration and I was filmed and photographed by the police.”
The tribunal heard that shortly after that he made the decision to leave the country.
He claims he paid $17,000 to an agent to get him out of Vietnam and first travelled to the Ukraine and then Germany.
From there he was charged a further £3500 by the agent to get him to France, where he stayed in a refugee camp before finally being smuggled into the UK on a lorry in September last year.
His family have since received a summons for him to appear in court in Vietnam.
Read more: Labour's Paul Sweeney to challenge May over boy orphaned in Scotland and seeking asylum
His solicitor, Andrew Bradley, of Peter G Farrell solicitors, said he was at risk if he returns to Vietnam “due to his religion and political opinion”.
Mr McCallum said that while the Home Office accepts that the man is a priest, they do not accept that he would be at risk.
He added that the appellant’s claims about his political activities were “not credible”.
A decision on his appeal will be issued next month.
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