Vietnam Avoids Penalty With Moves on Religion

The U.S. State Department said it would not impose sanctions on Vietnam for repressing religion after Hanoi freed some religious prisoners, reopened churches and banned forced renunciations of faith.

The United States last year placed Vietnam on a blacklist of “countries of particular concern” for abusing rights to worship, a status that can lead to political and economic sanctions.

U.S. officials said they had struck an agreement with Vietnam to hold off on the sanctions and to consider dropping the communist nation from the blacklist because of its actions to improve religious protections.