The United States needs to make religious liberty a significant part of its relationship with Saudi Arabia, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said May 13, the day after suicide bombers killed Americans and other foreigners in the Middle East country.
The commission’s annual report followed the attacks on a compound for Westerners that resulted in more than 30 deaths. The radical Islamic terrorist group Al Qaeda has been credited with planning the bombings.
In its report, the commission once again called for the State Department to name Saudi Arabia as a severe violator of religious freedom.
Though the department has acknowledged religious liberty does not exist in Saudi Arabia, it has refused to add the Islamic state to its list of “countries of particular concern.”
“Advancing human rights and religious freedom have not yet been public features of the U.S.-Saudi bilateral relationship,” committee chair Felice Gaer said in a written statement.
“Our goal in releasing this annual report on religious freedom has been to highlight that the protection of religious freedom and other human rights must be an integral part of U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia and other countries,” Gaer said.
The commission recommended that the United States:
Investigate the Saudi Arabian government’s funding of the international promotion of a radical form of Islam that advances hate and sometimes violence.
Push the Saudi government to improve its religious freedom status by, among other acts, eliminating the mutuwa (the religious police) and permitting places of worship not identified with Wahhabi, a narrow interpretation of Islam.
Investigate reports that religious discrimination and restrictions against U.S. military members, diplomats and workers in Saudi Arabia are taking place.
(BP)
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