CORRECTION: U.S. senators press Vietnam on jailed priest

(Corrects name in paragraph 11)

By Paul Eckert

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of U.S. senators urged Vietnam's president on Wednesday to free a Catholic priest as human rights groups said his imprisonment justified putting Hanoi on a U.S. religious freedom blacklist.

Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly, a Catholic priest who had spent 16 years in prison for rights advocacy activities, was jailed for eight years in March 2007 on charges that he spread propaganda against Vietnam's communist government.

The group of 37 senators, led by Democrat Barbara Boxer and Republican Sam Brownback, urged President Nguyen Minh Triet to free the 63-year-old cleric, calling his trial "seriously flawed."

"We request that you facilitate Father Ly's immediate and unconditional release from prison, and allow him to return to his home and work without restrictions on his right to freedom of expression, association and movement," their letter read.

"Father Ly's long-standing nonviolent activities to promote religious freedom and democracy in Vietnam are well known in the United States," wrote the senators, who also included Democrat Edward Kennedy and Republican Orrin Hatch.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Washington did not immediately confirm receipt of the letter or issue comment.

During Ly's four-hour trial, he was denied access to a lawyer and was silenced by security guards when he attempted to speak, said the U.S. human rights group Freedom Now.