At 3 PM local time on Nov. 6, 2002, the local Communist authorities posted an order to demolish the gate of the Quang Minh Temple, a Hoa Hao Buddhist temple in the Long Dien A hamlet, Cho Moi district, An Giang province (built in 1999). 

The ostensible reason for the demolition order was a construction code violation.The demolition order was approved and signed by Pham Thanh Dung, Chairman of the People's Committee of Long Dien. Soon after the order was posted, the vice chairman of the Fatherland Front of Cho Moi district, the head of the Religious Committee of Cho Moi district, and another communist official ordered Hoa Hao Buddhist priest Vo Van Thanh Liem to remove the gate within 5 days. 

Mr.Vo Van Thanh Liem has been arrested and imprisoned more than 20 times since 1975. His last imprisonment took place from April 30, 1994 to April   30, 1998 at Kinh Ong Co prison, Dinh Thanh, An Giang province, on charges of practicing religion illegally and disturbing the public order. On October 10, 2002, Mrs. Sandra Henderson, Secretary of the Australian Consulate in Ha Noi City, visited him at the request of Australian government and the United Nations Human Rights Commission. Mr. Liem gave her 2 cassettes and his long report about the communist harassment of HoaHao Buddhists during the last 27 years.