Last week, the US State Department released its annual Report on International Religious Freedom. This year's report detailed some surprising finds. Sahar El-Bahr reviews the report This year's release of the 20-page United States State Department's Report on International Religious Freedom lists 20 countries where the treatment of religious minorities remains of "significant interest to the United States' government." In a few weeks' time, a "blacklist" of the countries whose conditions potentially merit US sanctions will be issued. According to the report, among the eight countries "of particular concern" that have reported some improvement was Sudan. It remains a cause of "particular concern," however, because the country denies building permits for Christian churches and requires all students to study Islam. Last year, Sudan topped the report's blacklisted countries. US Ambassador for international religious freedom, John Hanford, noted important improvements in religious tolerance in Saudi Arabia. He said the US was also "very encouraged" by steps taken by the Saudi authorities to reign in the country's "religious police," to permit private religious worship and remove anti-Semitic and anti-Christian references from school textbooks. The same section on Saudi Arabia in last year's report stated: "freedom of religion does not exist. Islam is the official religion, and all citizens must be Muslims." This year's surprising conclusions on Saudi Arabia triggered an angry response from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (CIRF), sponsored by Congress to advise the US government. "The Commission is simply shocked that the Department removed longstanding and widely quoted language from its report that freedom of religion does not exist in Saudi Arabia," said CIRF chairwoman Felice Gaer. "It definitely sends a message by taking that out that there has been improvement," said Dwight Bashir, who tracks Saudi Arabia at the panel, and added: "We still believe strongly that religious freedom does not exist in Saudi Arabia." However, Hanford insisted the report reflects the fact that there has been some improvement, but also noted that some issues are ingrained in Saudi society and thus not expected to soon change. "We are very encouraged by the position of the Saudi government and by the responses as well as by a number of statements made by King Abdullah which I think are forward leading," said Hanford. "We see things moving in the right direction. How quickly, remains to be seen." Policies hailed by the report as progressive include measures designed to halt intolerant literature and extremist ideology, protect private worship, and curb harassment of religious practice. The US State Department report noted the Saudi government is conducting a comprehensive revision of textbooks and educational curricula to weed out disparaging remarks toward religious groups, a process that will take one to two more years. The report added the Saudi government was also retraining teachers and religious police and trying to ensure that rights of non-Muslims were protected. Even as the report has softened its criticism of Saudi Arabia, it was very harsh with Iran, a frequent target of US criticism. The two countries are in dispute over Iran's suspected nuclear programme, and the US has long branded Iran a "state sponsor of terrorism" and accused it of violating human rights. Notably, Iran headed last year's list alongside China, Eritrea, Myanmar, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Vietnam. In the most recent report, Iran was faulted for its worsening treatment of religious minorities. The State Department report said there had been a "further deterioration of the extremely poor status of respect for religious freedom" in Iran since the June 2005 election of hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the presidency. According to the report, Iran continues its "harsh and oppressive treatment" of religious minorities. The report noted that government actions and rhetoric create a threatening atmosphere for nearly all who do not practice Shia Islam. The assessment mentioned reports of imprisonment, harassment, intimidation and discrimination based on religious beliefs in Iran, even among Zoroastrians, Jews and Christiansthe only legally recognised religious minorities. "The US government has strongly expressed its objections to the government's harsh and oppressive treatment of religious minorities," the report stated. The report said Bahais and Sufi Muslims are among the most harassed religious groups in Iran. Other groups that are not recognised under the constitution are not free to practice their faiths. By law and practice in Iran, "religious minorities are not allowed to be elected to a representative body or to hold senior government or military positions, with the exception that five of a total 270 seats in the Majlis are reserved for religious minorities," the report indicated. Nabil Abdel-Fattah, expert at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, expects that some Arab governments will impose more oppressive methods to curb the influence of Shia communities in their countries. Citing the strong Iranian alliance with Shia communities in Lebanon, Kuwait and Bahrain, Abdel-Fattah concluded that "These governments believe that Iran will use the Shia in their countries as playing cards to maximise its influence in the region." Egypt was also mentioned in this year's report. According to the report, religious practices that conflict with the government's interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law, are prohibited. "Members of the non-Muslim religious minorities officially recognised by the Egyptian government generally worship without harassment; however, tradition and some aspects of the law discriminated against religious minorities, including Christians, and particularly Bahais, which are not recognised legally," the report said Abdel-Fattah said that the government rejected civil documents, including identity cards, birth certificates, and marriage licenses, to members of the Bahai community, which numbers 500 to 2,000 persons. It appealed a 4 April decision by the administrative court that supported the right of Bahai citizens to receive ID cards and birth certificates with their religion noted on the documents. However, Abdel-Fattah believes that the insistence of the Bahai citizens to receive official documents is an indirect tactic and strategy they apply in order to obtain official recognition of their religion. "Meanwhile, Copts and some Muslims request the removal of religion from their ID cards because it could lead to discrimination," Abdel-Fattah maintained Abdel-Fattah stressed that progress has been made regarding the status of Copts in Egypt: "Copts are now an integral part of the public and political debate's agenda. The government is keen on improving the political status of the Copts; they are even encouraged to participate in political life. Additionally, Copts can discuss freely and publicly issues related to the freedom of practicing religions and the freedom of converting." According to Abdel-Fattah, the Egyptian government has its own agenda as it seeks to balance the various political powers including that of the Muslim Brotherhood. He said it also seeks to improve its image, demolishing the international pressure of the Copts abroad especially those residing in the US. However, Abdel-Fattah agrees with the report that many churches continued to encounter difficulty with obtaining permits for church repair, restoring and rebuilding, despite a presidential decree in December 2005 stating that such permits no longer required presidential approval. "However, bureaucracy hinders the real implementation of the presidential decrees on restoring, repairing or rebuilding of churches," Abdel-Fattah underlines. As for the US-occupied Iraq, the report said that country was still struggling with "unsettled conditions" and the government's ability to protect religious freedom were "handicapped by insurgency, terrorism and sectarian violence." As for Syria, the report noted that the status of respect for religious freedom had improved slightly. The Syrian government eased restrictions on public, state-sanctioned expressions of Islam. The government continued to monitor the activities of all groups, including religious groups, and discouraged proselytism, which it deems a threat to relations among religious groups. According to the report, the Pakistani government took some steps to improve the treatment of religious minorities but "serious problems" remained. Specifically, the government failed to take action against "societal forces hostile to those who practice a different faith."
