WASHINGTON, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Two Vietnamese activists who the Biden administration believes were wrongly detained by the country's Communist government are relocating to the United States under an agreement negotiated ahead of the president's recent visit to Hanoi, U.S. officials told Reuters. A human rights lawyer who campaigned for accountability for police abuses, a Catholic parishioner evicted from his home, and their families are exiting Vietnam for the United States, one of the officials said.
In the United States, the families are expected to seek resettlement under the "Priority 1" refugee program. The activists were not imprisoned, but had been barred from leaving Vietnam.
Vietnam's government had also agreed to release two imprisoned Vietnamese activists sought by the United States prior to Biden's visit last week, a U.S. official said, and signed a private agreement to make progress on religious freedom, non-governmental organization (NGO) operations in the country, prison conditions and labor laws, one of the officials said.
The topics of the private agreement, which Reuters has not independently reviewed, were not previously reported. They were inked as Vietnam agreed to lift Washington to Hanoi's highest diplomatic status alongside China and Russia on a trip in which Biden endorsed the country's vision as a high-tech leader.
The agreements come as the Biden administration faces criticism over its diplomacy with Vietnam, India and Saudi Arabia, whose governments deny political freedoms enjoyed in the West, and over its negotiations around a prisoner exchange with Iran.
The Vietnamese prisoners included a legal scholar focused on religion who was released to Germany and another individual sentenced for tax evasion related to his NGO.
The officials would not identify any of the four people, citing diplomatic and security sensitivities, but the two ex-prisoners' names are known. Legal advocate Nguyen Bac Truyen confirmed his release and his travel with his wife to Germany earlier this month. The release of independent journalist Mai Phan Loi was also confirmed earlier this month.
