FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 7, 2011

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. government should urge the government of Indonesia to protect the embattled Ahmadiyah religious community and to repeal laws prohibiting the Ahmadiyah community from manifesting their faith, said the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today.  

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March 2, 2011
 

WASHINGTON, DC – The tragic and brutal assassination today of Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s cabinet Minister for Minority Affairs, was an “outgrowth of that country’s blasphemy law, which fuels extremism and violence rather than keeping the peace,” said the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today.

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February 24, 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) welcomes the addition yesterday of two Iranian government officials to the executive order President Barack Obama signed on September 29, 2010 imposing sanctions for serious human rights abuses in Iran.
 

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February 22, 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is concerned with the acquittals of two of the three men charged with killing six Coptic Orthodox Christians and one Muslim security guard in the town of Naga Hammadi, Egypt, in January 2010.

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February 1, 2011

WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is now accepting applications for its 2011-2012 Joseph R. Crapa Fellowship Program.  The application deadline is April 18, 2011. 

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January 21, 2011

Washington D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) condemns the recent spate of attacks in Iraq against Shi’a Muslims commemorating Arbaeen, a Shi’a holiday commemorating the death of the Prophet’s grandson.  On Thursday, two explosions targeted Shi’a pilgrims in the holy city of  Karbala, killing at least 50 and wounding 150, and another attack against pilgrims on their way there killed one and wounded nine.  In addition, on Tuesday Shi’a pilgrims were attacked near Baghdad.    

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January 19, 2011

Washington, DC - As President Hu Jintao began his visit to the United States yesterday, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) urges President Obama to raise the cases of prominent religious prisoners and human rights lawyers in China.  There are an estimated 1,300 political and religious prisoners in China, in violation of China’s international obligations and its constitutional protections for human rights and religious freedom.  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 18, 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As President Hu Jintao arrives in the United States, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) releases its recent letter to President Obama urging him to “clearly speak” about why religious freedom is in the interest of U.S.-China relations.   

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January 9, 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) welcomes the start of voting for the referendum on self-determination for Southern Sudan, during which Southerners in Sudan and abroad will vote to remain in a unified Sudan or to become an independent country.  The referendum is the final benchmark of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended more than 20 years of North-South civil war in Sudan.  The fighting, triggered substantially by the resistance of the South’s Christian and animist population to the attempts by the Northern government to impose its radicalized version of Islam, left more than two million persons killed and four million displaced.

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January 7, 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today expressed concern over the fate of scores of Christians detained since Christmas in Tehran. They were informally accused of being “evangelical missionaries,” although no formal charges have been filed by authorities.  

Iranian law makes proselytizing of Muslims by non-Muslims illegal, in contravention of international standards.

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January 7, 2011

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Leonard Leo, chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), will be holding a joint press conference on Monday, January 10, at the Alexandria, Virginia voting station to observe the Sudanese Diaspora in the United States voting in the Sudan Referendum.

The critical referendum is the final milestone of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended more than 20 years of North-South civil war in Sudan and will determine whether Southern Sudan will secede or remain united with Northern Sudan.