US commission slams Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt for abuses of religious freedom
AFP - World News (via Yahoo)
May 12, 2004
WASHINGTON - A semi-official US religious freedom watchdog heavily criticized Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt for discrimination and again recommended threatening the Saudi government with sanctions unless its record improves.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom identified the three Middle Eastern countries as the region's prime violators of the right to worship and called for Washington to increase pressure on them, particularly Saudi Arabia, to change.
"The government of Saudi Arabia engages in systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or belief," the congressionally mandated panel said in its annual report.
"The commission continues to recommend that Saudi Arabia be designated a 'country of particular concern,' or CPC," it said, noting with apparent disdain the refusal of the State Department to make such a designation which would open Riyadh to possible US sanctions.
The panel's report is intended to guide the secretary of state in making his or her determinations on the status of freedom of religion around the globe.
Despite repeated recommendations to include Saudi Arabia as a country of particular concern," Secretary of State Colin Powell has declined to do so, in what critics have complained is political pandering to the oil-rich US ally.
"While the State Department's 2003 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom again notes that freedom of religion 'does not exist' in Saudi Arabia, the country still has not been designated a CPC," the commission said.
The panel accused the Saudi government of engaging "in an array of severe violations of human rights as part of its official repression of freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief" and noted with concern that the country continued to export an extreme form of militant Islam despite pledges to rein in radical, anti-western imams.
"The sponsorship by a close ally of the United States around the world of extremist intolerant religious views or views that incite to violence seems to be something that the American people must know more about," Michael Young, the commission's chairman, told reporters.
Iran has been designated a "country of particular concern" for abuses of religious freedom since 1999, and the panel once again recommended that it be identified as such.
"The government of Iran engages in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, including prolonged detention, torture, and executions based primarily or entirely upon the religion of the accused," the commission said.
In particular, it noted continued persecution by the Islamic republic's conservative Shiite religious leadership of the members of the Baha'i faith as well as discrimination against Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians in addition to minority Sunni and Sufi Muslims.
The commission did not recommend that Egypt be designated a "country of particular concern" but singled it out for careful scrutiny with an eye to such a move, accusing Cairo of not doing enough to prevent religious repression.
"Serious problems of discrimination and other human rights violations against members of religious minorities remain widespread in Egypt," the panel said, adding that the country would remain on its "watch list" for possible inclusion on the religious freedom blacklist.
In Egypt, it said, Coptic Christians, Baha'is and Jews continue to be discriminated against and have been subject to violence at the hands of Muslim extremists who have gone unpunished for their crimes. Also of concern, are prosecutions of Christians for proselytizing and the arrests or harassment of Muslims who have converted, it said.
http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_6167.shtmlWashington shows signs of softer stance on Iran
Guy Dinmore in Washington
May 12 2004
Financial Times, UK
US policy towards Iran may be shifting to a less confrontational approach as the Bush administration is driven by the crisis in Iraq to consider more engagement with Tehran's clerical regime, according to analysts and former officials.
But diplomats cautioned that hardliners in the Bush administration were resisting "realists" advocating a more pragmatic approach.
Richard Armitage, deputy secretary of state, said there was a "condominium" of thought that Iran was "not intent on stirring things up in the south", around the holy Shia cities of Najaf and Karbala, and risk increasing the US military presence there.
"They have been, I think, relatively helpful," Mr Armitage, regarded as a "realist" in the administration, told the Financial Times.
The State Department told Iran last month to act constructively in Iraq as a foreign ministry delegation arrived in Baghdad to meet US and UK officials in the Coalition Provisional Authority. But at the same time, according to the State Department, Washington rejected an Iranian offer to mediate with Moqtada al-Sadr, the cleric who has led a revolt against US forces.
The assessment of Mr Armitage is at odds with that of Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary who has been highly critical of Iran, accusing it of being "unhelpful" and "meddling".
Such differing views reflect a divergence within the Bush administration over whether to engage the clerical regime in Tehran or try to change it.
According to one former official with ties to the White House, John Negroponte, designated as US ambassador to Iraq, has advised the administration not to antagonise Iran during the critical period of returning sovereignty to Baghdad and preparing for elections.
This was denied by a US official in New York, where Mr Negroponte is envoy to the United Nations. "Nothing could be further from the truth," he said. Asked if Mr Negroponte would maintain contacts with Iranian officials in Baghdad already established through the Coalition Provisional Authority, the official said that was a "non-issue".
Mr Negroponte is said to have developed a good relationship with Iran's ambassador to the UN, Javad Zarif, and has impressed upon the White House the need for Iran's help in dealing with Iraq.
A year ago the US broke off talks with Iran, accusing Tehran of sheltering al-Qaeda activists who had planned bombings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
On the nuclear issue, differences within the Bush administration are less acute. There is scepticism that Iran intends to abide by its international obligations as it advances the technology needed to develop nuclear weapons.
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