FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) joins the U.S. State Department in condemning in the strongest terms the actions of the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).  These actions include the recent ultimatum the group issued against Christians in Mosul demanding that they either convert, leave, pay a tax, or face death.  The Christian community has lived in Mosul for more than 1,700 years, with an estimated 30,000 living there before the ISIL offensive. 

“ISIL’s persecution of Mosul’s Christian communities, as well as the Shi’a and Yazidi communities and any Sunnis who reject ISIL’s extremist ideology, is deeply troubling and repugnant,” said USCIRF’s Chair Katrina Lantos Swett.

After ISIL overtook Mosul on June 10th, more than half a million people fled.  Those who remained have experienced killings, rape, torture, and kidnappings.  Women have been beaten when venturing outside their homes or viewed as dressing inappropriately, and Shi’a shrines and Christian churches have been destroyed.

“ISIL’s depravity has been evident from the beginning.  Among the atrocities it has committed, ISIL murdered 12 dissenting Sunni clerics, kidnapped Christian priests and nuns, killed scores of civilians, destroyed ancient houses of worship, and marked non-Sunni houses and businesses for destruction.  And now it has issued this shocking ultimatum,” said Lantos Swett.

“ISIL’s actions represent the total rejection of one of the most important, internationally recognized human rights – namely the right of freedom of religion, conscience and belief.  It is vital that the United States and other like-minded governments act to defend this fundamental freedom against the onslaught of those who seek to impose their dark vision of total religious repression on the peaceful Christian, Yazidi, and Muslim communities of Iraq and Syria,” Lantos Swett added.

USCIRF also is concerned about the overall religious freedom situation throughout Iraq.  USCIRF’s 2014 Annual Report detailed significant violations of religious freedom including the government’s increasing sectarian actions and failure to stem egregious and mounting violence which non-state actors have committed against Iraqi civilians, including attacks targeting religious pilgrims and worshippers, religious sites, leaders, and individuals for their actual or assumed religious identity.

For more information on religious freedom condition in Iraq see USCIRF’s 2014 Annual Report.

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 7, 2014 | USCIRF

WASHINGTON, DC – As Muslims around the world observe the holy month of Ramadan, Uighur Muslims in China face far-reaching restrictions on their religious practices.  The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) urges the Chinese government to end such actions, including bans on fasting and other religious observances during Ramadan in China’s autonomous region of Xinjiang, a Uighur Muslim-majority area. 

“By continuing its annual ban on fasting during Ramadan, the Chinese government signals its ongoing disrespect for internationally recognized human rights, including the right of freedom of religion or belief,” said Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, USCIRF Chair.  Students and teachers, professors, and other government employees are prohibited from fasting and, in some cases, from performing their daily prayers, during Ramadan.  In fact, in some locations, authorities have held festivities to commemorate the Communist Party’s founding and served food to determine if Muslims would adhere to the fasting ban.  Those observing the fast may be subject to threats, detention and arrest by local authorities.

Religious freedom conditions in Xinjiang have declined dramatically since June 2009.  At that time, the Chinese government began instituting sweeping security measures that, among other goals, sought to weaken Uighur Muslims’ religious adherence and eradicate so-called “illegal” religious gatherings and activities.  Uighur Muslims have expressed deep resentment at Beijing’s oversight of Xinjiang and the restrictions on their religious practices and activities.  

USCIRF’s 2014 Annual Report chapter on China highlights the religious freedom abuses and violence that have resulted from the government’s policies in Xinjiang. USCIRF again recommends that China be designated as a “country of particular concern” (CPC).  The State Department has designated China as a CPC since 1999.
 

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].