By Andy Soloman
HANOI, Oct 13, 1999 (Reuters) - A top dissident in Vietnam has accused Hanoi's communist rulers of systematic human rights abuses and said the country's political system is outdated.
Nguyen Dan Que, in a statement obtained by Reuters, called for an end to the elite Politburo's grip on power, independent probes into abuses of power and human rights violations, punishment for the guilty and compensation for the victims.
``We all recognise that Vietnam is committing systematic human rights violations and has an outdated political policy that fails to meet demands brought by great changes all over the world,'' Que said.
Vietnam denies charges it engages in human rights abuses, and says the Communist Party is the choice of all Vietnamese and dissent could cause social chaos.
Former political prisoner Que, a 57-year-old medical doctor who spent 20 out of the last 23 years in jail where he says he suffered torture, forced labour and a lack of food and medicines, was released under an amnesty last year.
In late September Que said police had stepped up harassment of him and his family, and that they would disconnect his last means of communication with the outside world -- a mobile telephone.
He also said his family members had been subjected to frequent questioning.
In his statement, Que said many governments, especially authoritarian regimes, trampled on basic rights, jailed critics, suppressed religions and ill-treated ethnic minorities.
``To cover their suppression they hide behind labels of stability for development, traditional values (and) private sacrifices for collective benefit,'' he wrote.
He added that those who violated human rights should be punished, and simple apologies were insufficient.
``Human rights abuses make people angry, bitter and they do not forget,'' Que said. ``They drift away from the government, and more dangerously the entire society sinks into degradation and underdevelopment.''
Que, a former Noble Peace Prize nominee and the only member in Vietnam of rights group Amnesty International, has stressed that he is opposed to violent confrontation.