FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 11, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) wrote to King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia to urge him to pardon Raif Badawi and Waleed Abu al-Khair. 

“Mr. Badawi is being unjustly held in a Saudi prison for nothing more than peacefully expressing on-line his internationally guaranteed rights to the freedoms of conscience and expression. Also imprisoned is his lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khair, who is serving a 15-year sentence on trumped-up charges related to his work as a human rights defender.  Their imprisonment and the fifty lashes Mr. Badawi already has received from his sentence of 1,000 lashes constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and are contrary to international human rights standards,” said USCIRF Chair Katrina Lantos Swett.

View USCIRF Letter to Saudi King Salman Requesting the Pardon of Raif Badawi and Waleed Abu al-Khair.

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 8, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) solemnly marks the one year anniversary of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) takeover of Mosul, and the hundreds of thousands of people who were killed, displaced, or forced to seek refuge in neighboring countries. These former residents of Mosul are among the more than two million Iraqis who fled their homes due to ISIL’s offensive. 

“One year ago, the world watched in horror as ISIL captured the city of Mosul and targeted its population, including its ancient and diverse religious communities,” said USCIRF Chair Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett. “While more than half a million people fled Mosul, those who remained have experienced killings, rape, torture, and kidnappings. Throughout northern Iraq, ISIL has killed and displaced hundreds of thousands, murdered dissenting Sunni clerics, kidnapped Christian priests and nuns, abducted Yazidi women and girls as sex slaves, and destroyed Sunni houses and businesses, Shi’a shrines and Christian churches.  ISIL’s unspeakable crimes and takeover of northern Iraq could well mark the end of that nation’s formerly religiously diverse makeup.”

USCIRF urges the United States to redouble its efforts to help protect and assist the region’s most vulnerable religious and ethnic minorities.  Furthermore, USCIRF calls on the U.S. government to raise its annual refugee resettlement ceiling from 70,000 to at least 100,000.  USCIRF also recommends that the U.S. government call for or support referral by the U.N. Security Council to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate ISIL violations in Iraq against religious and ethnic minorities, following the models used in Sudan and Libya, or encourage the Iraqi government to accept ICC jurisdiction to investigate.

“The United States and the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL must together ensure that the most vulnerable communities are protected, and that the Iraqi government and Kurdistan Regional Government security forces, where appropriate, are assisted to provide security for these communities,” said Lantos Swett.

In its 2015 Annual Report, USCIRF recommends that Iraq be designated a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) for its particularly severe violations of religious freedoms.  For more information on religious freedom condition in Iraq, see USCIRF’s 2015 Annual Report.

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

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

June 3, 2015 | Katrina Lantos Swett and Mary Ann Glendon

The following op-ed appeared in The National Interest on June 3, 2015

A court in Afghanistan recently sentenced eleven police officers to one-year jail terms for failing to stop a mob in March from lynching Farkhunda, a Kabul woman falsely accused of burning a Quran. Four men earlier had been convicted of and sentenced to death for her murder. If such justice is possible even in Afghanistan, hardly a bastion of protection for religious freedom and other human rights, why not in neighboring Pakistan? Why is there rarely any accountability in Pakistan for killing people accused of blasphemy? Why are law enforcement officials not held responsible for failing to apprehend the killers? And what, if anything, can the United States and the world community do about it?

We visited Pakistan in March as members of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). There we met with high-level officials including National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz, the Minister of Interior Secretary, the Minister for Religious Affairs, and the Attorney General, as well as madrassa leaders and religious minorities. We repeatedly saw how, in a number of ways, Pakistan’s blasphemy law and related statutes remain a serious and growing problem, how religious minorities bear the brunt of it, and how the greatest casualty is Pakistan’s founding heritage of respect for religious freedom and diversity.  

The blasphemy law on its face flatly violates both freedom of religion and freedom of expression. Worse still, Pakistan vigorously applies this law. Nearly forty Pakistanis are on death row or serving life sentences for blasphemy, a statistic unmatched anywhere in the world.  Moreover, the weight of this law falls disproportionately on members of religious minority communities, such as Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and Ahmadis. For the Ahmadis, this law’s enforcement is on top of other prohibitions which severely restrict them from practicing their faith. In addition, enforcement of such laws emboldens religious extremist groups and their sympathizers to assault these minorities—as seen most recently when terrorists slaughtered Ismaili Muslims on a bus. And finally, Pakistan’s zealous enforcement of these laws is in contrast to the pronounced lack of zeal bringing to justice those responsible for such attacks.

Notably, when it comes to countering the violence, a strong Pakistani Supreme Court ruling in 2014 recognized that the state must do more. This far-ranging decision, which quoted the Quran and Alexis de Tocqueville, mandated the creation of a special police force to protect religious minorities and a national commission on minorities. However, this police force has yet to be created and the religious minority commission remains buried within the Ministry for Religious Affairs with no access to Pakistan’s prime minister.

Since returning home, we have reflected on the fact that Pakistan, like the United States, is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation. And as Pakistan’s prime minister has stated publicly, this diversity can be a strength if the nation treats minorities as citizens with equal rights. But the devastating attack by extremists on two churches in Lahore on the day we departed underscores our greatest concerns.

Consequently, we remain convinced that the State Department should designate Pakistan a “country of particular concern” for its continued record of failure in protecting religious freedom.  Such a designation would elevate the discussion between Washington and Islamabad by signaling serious concern about current conditions.

But the United States can also lend a hand, and we see opportunities for constructive engagement that empowers those working to protect Pakistan’s religious diversity and combat extremism. For instance, creating a new avenue for U.S.-Pakistani engagement would strengthen Pakistani institutions that seek to help religious minorities. Also, as USCIRF has recommended, the United States could direct its security assistance funds to help protect minority worship sites. And reforming Pakistan’s blasphemy law is both essential and possible, especially given the Punjab provincial government’s hopeful step to review twenty percent of the 262 cases of alleged blasphemous behavior.

The United States can help move Pakistan forward, but we needn’t do it alone: we can work with international partners to raise concerns in various settings and encourage Pakistan’s government to invite the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief to visit Pakistan. Pakistan is a beautiful but complicated and, increasingly, dangerous country. With help from the United States and the world community, Pakistan must reverse its slide away from tolerance, and protect religious diversity and freedom.

Katrina Lantos Swett is Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Mary Ann Glendon is a USCIRF Commissioner.