Worst Violators of Religious Rights Listed

Ten countries, including China, Afghanistan and Sudan, should be listed as “particularly severe” violators of religious freedom, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said.

In urging the State Department to subject the 10 countries to unspecified U.S. sanctions, the commission noted that China, Sudan and Afghanistan had made the list in 1999 and 2000.

Other countries named by the commission this year were Myanmar (formerly Burma), Iran, Iraq, Laos, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan. In addition, the commission said India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam bear watching.

In China, the commission said, Falun Gong practitioners had been subjected to psychiatric detention and abuse, while more than 35 members of the underground Roman Catholic Church, including two bishops and 23 priests, had been arrested in April and July.

In Sudan, the commission said, religious differences were a major factor in the protracted civil war.