FOR YOUR INFORMATION

July 3, 2014 | By Robert P. George

The following op-ed appeared on CNN on July 3, 2014.

The recent ordeal of Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, a Sudanese mother and wife of an American citizen -- coupled with Iran's continued imprisonment of Saeed Abedini, also an American citizen and a pastor -- should awaken our conscience to one grim and inescapable fact: The persecution of Christians continues.

Charged with leaving Islam to marry a Christian, despite being raised a Christian and remaining one throughout her 27 years, Meriam was sentenced to death last month for apostasy. After an international outcry, she was released, rearrested, and released again, according to the U.S. State Department.

In Sudan and Iran, as well as countries like Saudi Arabia, leaders and movements impose their own extreme interpretations of Islam, while restricting the rights of Christians and other religious minorities.

Read full article here.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at 202-786-9812 or [email protected].

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 3, 2014 | USCIRF

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, President of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, was elected on July 1, 2014 as Chair of the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).  Dr. Swett was first appointed to the Commission in March 2012 by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and reappointed in April 2014. 

“I am honored to again serve as chair of USCIRF and work alongside my fellow commissioners in support of religious freedom and belief,” said Dr. Lantos Swett. “Much needs to be done to integrate this fundamental freedom more fully into the foreign policy of our nation because, by any measure, religious freedom is under serious attack across much of the globe.  Given its importance, religious freedom merits a seat at the table with economic and security concerns as the U.S. and other nations conduct their affairs.”

“I also want to thank USCIRF’s immediate past-Chairman, Dr. Robert P. George, and Vice-Chair, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, for their leadership and vision this past year and look forward to continuing our work together in support of the freedom of religion or belief,” concluded Dr. Lantos Swett, who had served as USCIRF Chair in 2012 and USCIRF Vice–Chair in 2013.

As the President of the Lantos Foundation, Dr. Lantos Swett works to carry on the human rights legacy of her father, the late Representative Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to Congress.  Dr. Lantos Swett also teaches human rights and American foreign policy at Tufts University, and has served as Deputy Counsel to the Criminal Justice Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee for then-Senator Joe Biden. 

Also on July 1, two USCIRF Commissioners were elected Vice-Chairs: Dr. Robert P. George and Dr. James J. Zogby.  Dr. George was appointed to the Commission by Speaker of the House John Boehner, and President Barack Obama appointed Dr. Zogby.  

Dr. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, and also is the Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at the University.  He has been a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School, and is a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Dr. Zogby is the founder and president of the Arab American Institute (AAI), a Washington, D.C.-based organization which serves as the political and policy research arm of the Arab American community.  He is also Managing Director of Zogby Research Services, which specializes in public opinion polling across the Arab world.

Also serving on the Commission are Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, Mary Ann Glendon, Daniel I. Mark, Thomas J. Reese, Hannah Rosenthal and Eric P. Schwartz.

USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and the leadership of both political parties in the Senate and House of Representatives.  USCIRF’s principal responsibilities are to review the facts and circumstances of violations of religious freedom internationally and to make policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and Congress.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0613.
 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 25, 2014 | USCIRF

The U.S. Commission on  International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is gravely concerned about the Sudanese government’s arrest of Meriam Ibrahim Ishag on document fraud charges and her being held with her family at a Khartoum police station following their June 24 detention at Khartoum’s airport as they sought to leave the country. USCIRF calls on the Sudanese government to release them immediately and has lodged a strong protest with the Sudanese Embassy in Washington D.C.

“We are very disturbed by these new developments,” said USCIRF Chairman Robert P. George.  “Our chief concern now is for Meriam and her family’s safety, that they be freed, and for their human rights to be fully respected.”

On Monday, June 23, an appeals court cancelled the apostasy charges and death sentence against Meriam and ordered her release from prison.  Meriam, a Christian, was convicted on May 15 of apostasy and sentenced to death by hanging.   Because the court did not recognize her marriage, she also had been found guilty of adultery and sentenced to 100 lashes.  While imprisoned, Meriam give birth on May 27 to a baby girl, Maya, who had been detained with her, along with her two-year-old son Martin. 

Meriam’s conviction, sentencing, detention, and arrest are a travesty for religious freedom and human rights in Sudan. The laws which she was accused of breaking violate Sudan’s own constitutional and international commitments to religious freedom and human rights.

Continued and focused international attention is critical to holding the Sudanese government accountable for its own constitutional provisions and international commitments to protect and respect freedom of religion or belief not only for Meriam, but all Sudanese, regardless of faith, said Chairman George.”

These laws reflect the practices of the Sudanese government which engages in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief.  The government of Sudan imposes a restrictive interpretation of Shari’ah law on Muslims and non-Muslims alike which include, along with charging individuals with the capital crime of apostasy, using amputations against those found guilty of armed robbery, and flogging Sudanese for undefined acts of “indecency” and “immorality.” 

Meriam was arrested on February 17 after her brother reported to the police that she had left Islam to marry a Christian man, a capital crime under Sudan’s 1991 Criminal Code. The Sudanese government’s application of Shari’ah law prohibits a Muslim woman from marrying a Christian man.  While Meriam was born to a Muslim father and an Ethiopian Orthodox mother, her father left the family when she was six and she was raised a Christian.  As evidence of her Christian faith, Meriam produced her 2011 marriage certificate which identified her as a Christian, and witnesses who tried to testify on her behalf, but court authorities prevented them from speaking. On May 15, Meriam was sentenced to death by hanging for apostasy. 

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0613.