FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 02, 2010

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today urged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to raise concerns about limitations on religious freedom and related human rights in Kazakhstan with Kazakh Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev, during his visit to Washington this week.

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January 12, 2010

Washington, D.C. – The trial of seven Baha’i religious leaders in Iran for spying against Iran is a “sham” and should be condemned in the strongest possible terms by the international community, said the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today. 

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January 11, 2010

Washington D.C. - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) welcomes recent steps by the government of Bangladesh to establish an official commission to investigate the violence that followed parliamentary elections in October 2001.  The announcement came after a High Court order to establish such a commission. Following the October 2001 elections, there were numerous reports of killings, rape, illegal land-seizures, arson, extortion, and intimidation of members of religious minority communities, particularly Hindus.

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December 31, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Abdurrahman Wahid (also known as Gus Dur), prominent religious reformer and former President of Indonesia, died yesterday at the age of 69.  The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) mourns the passing of this champion of religious freedom and determined opponent of radicalism and religious extremism.

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December 24. 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is deeply concerned by reports that the National Congress Party (NCP), headed by President Omar al-Bashir, appears to once again be threatening Sudan’s fragile peace by reneging on previous commitments.  On December 22, the NCP moved through the National Assembly, a body over which it has total control, the Southern Sudan referendum bill with new language that the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) did not agree to.  Days earlier, on December 20, the NCP rammed through the National Assembly a revised National Security Act to which the SPLM had objected because the Act does not include any new measures that hold the security services accountable. 

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December 24, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom today condemned the violence targeting Shia Muslims in Iraq at the start of the religious festival Ashura. In five attacks today, at least 19 people were killed and more than 100 injured.

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December 23, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. - As Iraqi Christians face a new round of violence this Christmas season, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) issued this statement:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 23, 2009

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) welcomes the new parole guidelines for asylum seekers in Expedited Removal just issued by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.  USCIRF will closely monitor the directive’s implementation to ensure that bona fide asylum seekers are not unduly detained. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 22, 2009

Though disappointed that the UN General Assembly has again passed a resolution urging countries to outlaw the so-called “defamation of religions,” the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today welcomed the fact that support in the world body for this pernicious idea continues to decline.