The government on Tuesday denied a report by a Paris-based group that it was barring the leader of a banned Buddhist church from leaving Hanoi and trying to move him to another monastery in a remote province.
Thich Huyen Quang, patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, has been under house arrest since 1992. Quang, 86, was sent to Hanoi last month to have a growth removed near his eye.
Quang then sent a letter to the Communist Party and the government asking that his church be recognized and given religious freedoms, and that he and Thich Quang Do, the church's second in command, be released from custody, the Paris-based International Buddhist Information Bureau said in a statement. Do has been under house arrest since 2001.
The group said Quang was later denied train tickets to Quang Ngai province, where his pagoda is located, and officials have been pressuring him to go instead to Nguyen Thieu Monastery in Binh Dinh province, about 160 kilometers (99 miles) away from Quang Ngai.
"This is part of a long-running government campaign to transfer Thich Huyen Quang to this remote province and maintain him under effective house arrest, whilst claiming that he has been released," the International Buddhist Information Bureau said.
On Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh denied the charges.
"This information is completely a sheer fabrication," Thanh said in a statement.
"Mr. Huyen Quang was practicing normally in Quang Phuoc pagoda in Nghia Hanh District of Quang Ngai province. He recently came to Hanoi for medical treatment. After the treatment, he remains in Hanoi to visit to the city," she said.
Thanh also rejected the allegations that Quang is being barred from leaving Hanoi and forced to go to another monastery. She denied that authorities received a letter from him.
Thanh's comments came a day after the U.S. State Department released a report on human rights in Vietnam. Among other things, it criticized the communist country's restrictions on religious freedom.
"Some Buddhists, Hoa Hao and Protestants, in particular, faced harassment by authorities," the report said. "The government imposed some limits on freedom of movement of particular individuals whom it deemed threatening to its rule."
Vietnam says its citizens enjoy religious freedom, but forbids independent organizations that might challenge its control.
The communist government permits only seven religious organizations to operate. Quang's group refuses any leaders imposed by the government.