WASHINGTON: The United States designated 10 countries, including Pakistan,China, Russia and Saudi Arabia, as countries of particular concern onWednesday for alleged religious freedoms violations.
The US added Russia to the list as ties dip to their lowest ebb since theCold War.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that he was designating Russia,as well as China and eight other states, as countries of concern “forhaving engaged in or tolerated ‘systematic, ongoing, and egregiousviolations of religious freedom.’”
Nigeria, which was on the list last year and where Blinken is due to visitthis week, was removed.
The other countries still on the US list for “religious freedom violations”are Myanmar, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.Algeria, Comoros, Cuba and Nicaragua were placed on a watch list.
“The United States will not waiver in its commitment to advocate forfreedom of religion or belief for all and in every country,” Blinken saidin a statement.
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“In far too many places around the world, we continue to see governmentsharass, arrest, threaten, jail, and kill individuals simply for seeking tolive their lives in accordance with their beliefs.”
The latest annual report by US diplomats on religious freedom highlightedthe Russian government’s “misuse of the law on extremism to restrict thepeaceful activities of religious minorities.”
“Religious groups and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reportedauthorities continued to investigate, detain, imprison, torture, and/orphysically abuse persons or seize their property because of their religiousfaith,” it said.
Among those classified by Russia as extremist and banned are the Christiangroup Jehovah’s Witnesses and Hizb-ut-Tahrir.
