16 September 2004

Religious Freedom Report Marks Problems in Four Places in Mideast, September 16, 2004

(Says "amicable relations" among religions exist in most Mideast countries)

By Phillip Kurata
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel and the Occupied Territories were singled out for criticism in the State Department's 2004 International Religious Freedom report.

Iran and Saudi Arabia were placed in the category of "State Hostility Toward Minority or Non-approved Religions."

The Iranian government "engaged in particularly severe violations of religious freedom. Members of the country's religious minorities -- including Sunni Muslims, Baha'is, Jews, and Christians -- reported imprisonment, harassment, intimidation, and discrimination based on their religious beliefs," the report said.

The report said that Baha'is may not teach or practice their faith or maintain links with co-religionists abroad and are subject to harassment, intimidation, and arbitrary arrest.

Iran's small Jewish community exists in a threatening atmosphere created by the government's anti-Israel policies and the perception among radical Muslims that all Jewish citizens support Zionism and the state of Israel, the report said.

Iranian authorities close down evangelical Christian churches and arrest converts while subjecting Sunni Muslims to religious discrimination at the local, provincial and national levels, the report said. It added that there are reports of discrimination against practitioners of the Sufi tradition.

With regard to Saudi Arabia, the report said that freedom of religion does not exist.

"Islam is the official religion, and all citizens must be Muslims. Muslims who do not adhere to the officially sanctioned Salafi (commonly called "Wahhabi") tradition can face severe repercussions at the hands of Mutawwa'in (religious police)," the report said.

Members of the Shi'a minority have limited employment opportunities, little representation in official institutions and restrictions on the practice of their faith and building mosques and community centers, the report said.

It added that there were frequent reports of mosque preachers, whose salaries are paid by the state, using violent anti-Jewish and anti-Christian language in their sermons.

Egypt was put in the category of "State Neglect of Societal Discrimination Against or Persecution of Minority Religions."

The report said the Egyptian government continues to try its citizens for unorthodox religious beliefs. Baha'is are denied identity papers, birth certificates, and marriage licenses; Christians are discriminated against in the public sector and in staff appointments to public universities, the report said.

"There are credible reports of government harassment or lack of cooperation with Christian families that attempt to regain custody of their daughters in cases of marriage between an underage Christian girl and a Muslim boy. There were credible reports that three of four Shi'a Muslims arrested in December and held without charge were tortured in detention," the report said.

The report said Israel and the Occupied Territories have "discriminatory legislation or policies prejudicial to certain religions."

Although the Israeli Declaration of Independence provides for full social and political equality within the framework of a "Jewish state", the report said that some non-Jews continued to experience discrimination in education, housing and employment.

"The Israeli Government seized land belonging to several religious institutions to build its separation-barrier between East Jerusalem and the West Bank," the report said.

The report said that there were credible reports that the Palestinian Authority security forces and judicial officials colluded with gangs to illegally extort property from Christian landowners.

The report said that the U.S. government has taken actions regarding Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel to advance religious freedom.

Regarding Egypt, the U.S. president, secretary of state, the assistant secretary for near eastern affairs, and the U.S. ambassador and embassy officials have raised religious freedom concerns in bilateral discussions with Egyptian officials, the report said. It added that a small grants program managed by the U.S. embassy in Cairo supports projects that promote tolerance and mutual respect between members of different religious communities.

The United States has designated Iran as a "country of particular concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act, the report said.

"The U.S. State Department spokesman on numerous occasions has addressed the situation of the Baha'i and Jewish communities. The U.S. Government has encouraged other governments to make similar statements and has urged those governments to raise the issue of religious freedom in discussions with the Government," the report said.

In Israel, U.S. embassy representatives routinely meet with Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Druze and Baha'i leaders at a variety of levels, the report said.

U.S. embassy representatives in Egypt have participated in discussions about ways to implement commitments that senior Jewish, Muslim, and Christian leaders in that country have made to reduce violence and teach tolerance in religious educational settings, the report said.

The secretary of state in September 2004 designated Saudi Arabia as a "country of particular concern" for severe violations of religious freedom, the report said. The U.S. ambassador has raised specific cases of violations with senior Saudi officials, and senior embassy officers have called on the government to enforce its public commitment to allow private religious practice and to respect the rights of Muslims who do not follow the state-sanctioned Wahhabi tradition of Islam, the report said.

The report noted small improvements in Kuwait and Qatar and no change in the levels of religious freedom in Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, the Western Sahara, and Yemen.

It added that generally amicable relations among religions in society contributed to religious freedom in all of those countries with the exception of Libya.

It said information about the relations between religions in Libya was lacking.

Analyses of the religious conditions in countries in the Near East and North Africa region can be found at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2004/c12793.htm