US slams friends, foes alike in religious freedom report

WASHINGTON: The US allies including Saudi Arabia and Bahrain did not uphold principles of religious freedom in 2016, while Islamic State has carried out "genocide" against religious minorities, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday.

Tillerson made the comments at the State Department while introducing the agency’s annual report on religious freedom, required by a 1998 act of the Congress. The report is the first to be released during the Trump administration and covers 2016. Saudi Arabia, Tillerson said, ought to "embrace greater degrees of religious freedom for all of its citizens.

"He cited criminal penalties for apostasy, atheism, blasphemy, and insulting the Saudi state’s interpretation of Islam, as well as attacks and discrimination targeting Shi’ite Muslims.

The kingdom follows the strict Sunni Muslim Wahhabi school of Islam. The report said Saudi Arabia has used counter-terrorism laws to target atheists and Shi’ite Muslims.

The United States and Saudi Arabia have long been close partners in counter-terrorism efforts and the kingdom was the first stop on the US. Tillerson singled out another Gulf Arab state, Bahrain, saying it "must stop discriminating against the Shia communities.

"Bahrain’s foreign ministry said Tillerson’s remarks were "inappropriate" and showed "a deep misunderstanding of the facts. "It called on the State Department to discuss such matters directly with the kingdom before making statements.

"The history of the Kingdom of Bahrain is characterised by coexistence and religious harmony," the ministry said in a statement. It said Bahrainis of different sects, including Shi´ites, served as government officials, judges, diplomats and other professions.

Tillerson said that in Turkey, a Nato ally, "authorities continued to limit the human rights of members of some religious minority groups. "American pastor Andrew Brunson has been jailed in Turkey since October on charges of being part of a terrorist organisation, according to news reports.

Tillerson said religious freedom is "under attack" in Pakistan, citing the marginalisation of Ahmadiyya Muslims, a minority sect which Pakistan considers non-Muslim.

Tillerson said Islamic State, the Sunni extremist group that has controlled parts of Iraq and Syria, "is clearly responsible for genocide against Yezidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims in areas it controls or has controlled.

"Tillerson said Iran targeted religious minorities including Baha’is and Christians, and in 2016 executed 20 people on charges including "waging war against God. "He also called out China and Sudan in his remarks.

The Chinese government tortures and imprisons thousands for practicing their religious beliefs, Tillerson said, citing the targeting of Falun Gong members, Uighur Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists.

And in Sudan, the government arrests and intimidates clergy and blocks the construction of churches while tearing down existing ones, he said. Tillerson´s decision to introduce the report contrasted with how he handled the State Department´s annual human rights report in March.

He declined to unveil it in person, breaking with precedent, and drew criticism he was not giving rights issues adequate attention. The report did not address Trump´s attempt this year to temporarily suspend refugee admissions and his decision to impose a lower cap on the number of those admissions.

The report states that resettlement is a "vital tool for providing refugees protection. "Many refugees admitted to the United States in 2016 were fleeing religious intolerance and persecution, it said.

"The United States promotes religious freedom as a moral imperative," he wrote. "As importantly, we promote religious freedom because countries that effectively safeguard this human right are more stable, economically vibrant, and peaceful," he argued.

"The failure of governments to protect this right breeds instability, terrorism, and violence." The individual country reports go into more detail on the policies and practices of various states around the world, including the 10 listed by the US administration as "countries of particular concern," including Saudi Arabia and China.

The report does not look into policy in the United States, where Trump won office on a pledge to ban all Muslim immigration and is now battling US courts for the right to ban arrivals from eight mainly-Muslim states. But Tillerson — who gave a brief address to launch the report — insisted the administration will continue to promote religious freedom around the world as a “moral imperative” and a universal human rights.

“Religious persecution and intolerance remains far too prevalent,” he said. “Almost 80 percent of the global population lives with restrictions on or hostilities to limit their freedom of religion. “Where religious freedom is not protected, we know that instability, human rights abuses, and violent extremism have a greater opportunity to take root,” he warned, in a brief speech at the State Department. But Tillerson used his remarks and a preface to the report to draw attention to some particular offenders. He took the opportunity to criticise perennial US foe Iran, noting that the Islamic republic has used “vague apostasy laws” to execute 20 members of religious minorities over the past year.

But he also complained about the behaviour of some US friends, such as Turkey, where he said non-Sunni Muslims such as the Alevi are not protected by the state from “discrimination and violence.”

He demanded Turkey to release a US citizen, evangelical pastor Andrew Brunson, who has been “wrongfully imprisoned” on charges he belongs to the banned movement of exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen.

America’s allies in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, were also in the firing line, despite Trump’s recent triumphant visit to Riyadh to salute their support in the battle against Iran and violent extremism.

Tillerson said religious freedom is "under attack" in Pakistan, citing the marginalisation of Ahmadiyya Muslims, a minority sect which Pakistan considers non-Muslim. Tillerson said Islamic State, the Sunni extremist group that has controlled parts of Iraq and Syria, "is clearly responsible for genocide against Yezidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims in areas it controls or has controlled.

Iran rejected a US religious freedom report critical of Tehran as "hypocritical", coming from a country where Islamophobia was widespread. "Iran considers it an unrealistic, baseless, unfounded and biased report which has only been made with the intention of certain political gains," foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi hit back on the ministry's website.

He said Washington should focus on improving its own record of discrimination, particularly regarding its Muslim population. "It is clear that religious and racial discrimination, Islamophobia, and xenophobia are a widespread and frequent phenomenon among American politicians," said Ghasemi.

"Muslims in America face violent and discriminating actions on a daily basis by state bodies like the police and security forces." China denied violations of religious freedom after the United States accused Beijing of persecuting Christians, Muslims, Falun Gong members and Tibetan Buddhists in an annual report.

"All Chinese people of all ethnic groups and all regions are fully entitled to religious belief. The so-called report ignores facts," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press briefing. "We see that the United States is not a perfect country either. We urge the US to... manage its own affairs," Hua added. – Reuters/AFP