February 2, 2012 | by USCIRF

Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today called for the immediate release of 35 Ethiopian Christians who have been detained by Saudi Arabian police since December 15, allegedly for participating in a private religious gathering.

"The Saudi government immediately should release all 35 Christians who have been detained without charge. Unless and until the Saudi government demonstrates some valid legal basis for imprisoning these individuals, they should immediately be set free and Saudi authorities should investigate allegations of physical abuse and degrading treatment by prison officials,” said USCIRF Chair Leonard Leo.

On December 15, Saudi authorities raided a private religious gathering in Jeddah and detained the 35 Ethiopian Christian expatriate workers, 29 women and six men. Some of the men detained have alleged that they were physically abused during interrogations and the female detainees reportedly were subjected to intrusive and humiliating body cavity searches. While no formal charges have been made, the detainees reportedly were charged with "illicit mingling” with the opposite sex. Saudi authorities informed sponsors of some of the detainees that their employees were being held because of illegal religious activities. The detainees also reportedly face imminent deportation.

"In recent years, the number of arrests and deportations by Saudi authorities of non-Muslim expatriate workers for engaging in private religious worship had decreased significantly. This new development raises serious concern about a possible regression towards past practices,” said Leo. "In addition, the Saudi government continues to hold other prisoners on the basis of religion or belief, including Hadi Al-Mutif, an Ismaili Muslim, who, having been jailed for apostasy since 1994, is one of the longest serving religious prisoners in the world.” Furthermore, there have been reports that a Filipino Christian expatriate worker was arrested and charged with blasphemy by Saudi authorities in October, although his current whereabouts are unknown.

Since 2004, the U.S. Department of State has designated Saudi Arabia a "country of particular concern” for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom. The Saudi government persists in banning all forms of public religious expression other than the government's own interpretation of one school of Sunni Islam and prohibits any non-Muslim places of worship. Despite King Abdullah undertaking some limited reform measures and promoting inter-religious dialogue in international fora in recent years, little progress has been made more than five years after the State Department publicly announced that, as a result of bilateral discussions, the Saudi government had confirmed that it would advance specific policies with the aim of improving religious freedom conditions.

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 the 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 Paul Liben at [email protected] or (703) 870-6041.

January 25, 2012 | by Leonard A. Leo and Rev. William Shaw

The following op-ed appeared in the Baltimore Sun on January 23, 2012. For a link to the original article, go to

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-nigeria-20120123,0,6743343.story

Since the arrival of the New Year, America's Nigerian diaspora, including its significant community in Maryland, must be dismayed by the news from Africa's most populous country. The reluctance of Nigeria's government to prevent or punish violence between Muslims and Christians has invited further violations of religious freedom and losses of innocent life.

During the first week of January, in one day in Adamawa State in the north, at least 20 people were killed and 15 others wounded. The next day, eight worshipers attending the Apostolic Church in Adamawa were slain. Members or followers of Boko Haram, the terrorist group which killed hundreds in 2011 - including on Christmas Day in several church bombings - are suspected of being behind both atrocities.

The Adamawa bloodshed came after a demand by a purported Boko Haram representative that all Christians and southerners leave the north or face attack. It was followed by assaults on mosques and an Islamic school in the city of Benin in the south, leaving at least five people dead, and by the killing of four Christians fleeing the northern town of Maiduguri, which has been torn by Boko Haram's violence.

Over the years, violent religious actors, both Christian and Muslim, have literally gotten away with murder. Boko Haram is exploiting a climate of impunity in a country that has lost more than 13,000 people to religiously-related violence since 1999.

In a January 2011 meeting with a delegation from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), on which we serve, Nigerian officials highlighted five convictions on terrorism charges. Unfortunately, there have been no convictions of perpetrators of sectarian violence.
Compounding the problem, religious police called the Hisbah are funded by state governments in Bauchi, Zamfara, Niger, Kaduna, and Kano and enforce a number of sharia laws.

These religious freedom abuses and Nigeria's sectarian strife should arouse the conscience of the world, including the United States.

Yet Nigeria's problem isn't just a humanitarian one. Nigeria remains a pivotal leader in Africa, a major exporter of oil, and a contributor to international peacekeeping operations. Its sectarian violence threatens the stability and viability of a country that is far too vital to be allowed to slide into eventual chaos and anarchy.

What can be done to turn Nigeria's tide?

First, Nigeria's religious leaders, both Muslim and Christian, should together condemn Boko Haram's atrocities as terrorist attacks which pour gasoline on sectarian flames. Religious leaders also must restrain their rhetoric, which divides Christians and Muslims further and stokes reprisal attacks.

Second, Nigeria's political establishment, including President Goodluck Jonathan and other leaders, should muster the will and courage not only to curb the strife but to bring all perpetrators to justice. That means seriously prosecuting them, regardless of their faith or position in society, and ensuring a speedy process which holds them accountable. Abuja must give state prosecutors more freedom and flexibility against offenders, rather than insisting on federal trials that result in holding the detained in the capital and releasing them a few months later.

Third, the United States should designate Nigeria a CPC or Country of Particular Concern, deeming it among the world's worst religious freedom violators for failing to prevent or contain religiously-connected violence, stop reprisal attacks, and convict the guilty. Ultimately, however, Nigeria must do more than punish Boko Haram members and other extremists. It must also undermine their appeal by combating military and police abuse against Muslims and rolling back the nation's ethnic preferences system - in which persons originating from one state are denied benefits in others - which fuels charges of discrimination by Muslims and Christians alike.

Finally, the United States can make ending the culture of impunity a central issue in this week's U.S.-Nigeria Bi-National Commission meetings, while offering help to bolster Nigeria's community policing abilities, train prosecutors, and strengthen its judicial system.

During those meetings, security and stability will be critical issues. For the sake of these issues, as well as human life and religious freedom, Nigeria must confront its impunity problem now.

Leonard A. Leo is chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Rev. William Shaw serves as a USCIRF Commissioner.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, contact Paul LIben at [email protected] or (703) 870-6041.

January 9, 2012| by USCIRF

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today condemned the wave of attacks targeting Shi'a pilgrims traveling to Karbala, Iraq to commemorate Arbaeen, and called on the Iraqi government to increase security and bring the attackers to justice.

"I am alarmed by the recent series of deadly attacks targeting religious pilgrims,” said Leonard Leo , USCIRF chair. "These attacks seem intended to exacerbate sectarian tensions that are already heightened by the current political crisis, and risk a return to the sectarian violence that killed so many Iraqis, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, in 2006-07. The Iraqi government must act quickly and urgently to prevent this by tightening security on pilgrimage routes and in Karbala, investigating the attacks, and prosecuting the perpetrators.”

Today, a roadside bomb south of Baghdad killed at least one pilgrim and wounded at least nine, and another roadside bomb near Hilla wounded 15. On Thursday, January 5, a suicide bomber exploded himself next to a group of pilgrims near Nasiriyah, killing at least 48 people and wounding more than 81; the same day, five other bombings targeted mainly Shi'a neighborhoods in Baghdad, killing 24 and injuring at least 65.

Arbaeen marks the end of the 40-day mourning period after the anniversary of the death of the Prophet Muhammed's grandson.

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 the 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 Tom Carter, Communications Director at [email protected], or (202) 523-3257.