Several nations cited for religious persecution The Layman Online Friday, September 10, 1999 The United States has released its first annual report on religious freedom worldwide, concluding that much of the world's population lives in countries in which religious freedoms are restricted. The annual report is required under the International Religious Freedom Act, which was adopted by the 105th Congress and signed by President Clinton, who originally opposed the legislation. The legislation was a clear victory for evangelicals. In the first report, many of the countries faulted, including China, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq, regularly show up on the annual U.S. list of overall human rights abusers. But the new report also criticized some U.S. allies, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, for intolerance. "Freedom of religion does not exist'' in Saudi Arabia, the report determined, in an unusually blunt and sweeping finding about the major U.S. ally in the Gulf. Although 144 countries are parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, "there remains in some countries a substantial difference between promise and practice,'' the report, covering the period from January 1998 to June 1999 and written by the State Department, said.

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