US diplomat attacked in Vietnam

US diplomat attacked in Vietnam: An American diplomat was attacked by police in central Vietnam, said the U.S. Embassy Thursday, according to a report that the agent was human rights abused while trying to meet with one of the leading dissidents.

Christian Marchant, a Policy Officer at the Embassy in Hanoi, was attacked by police on Wednesday when he tried to visit and prominent Vietnamese dissident Catholic priest Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly, a report from Radio Free Asia.

Ly citing a source, he said Marchant was considered thrown by the authorities before the House of Ly and later put into a police car and driven away. Hiking on human rights work was recognized recently by a decision of the State Department.

Attacked the U.S. embassy confirmed yet released specific details about the incident, but that the diplomat was in the central city of Hue.

"We are aware and deeply concerned by the incident in Hue and formally registered a strong protest to the Vietnamese government in Hanoi and the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington DC." Beau Miller said embassy spokesman.

Ly, 63, one of the best-known dissidents in Vietnam, was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2007 for attempting to undermine the communist government of Vietnam. It is currently under house arrest after she released last year for medical reasons.