A US government commission has designated Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as one of the world\u2019s \u201cworst violators\u201d of religious freedom, citing the Riyadh regime\u2019s discrimination against Shia minorities, non-Muslims, women and prisoners of conscience.<\/p>\n
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A US government commission has designated Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as one of the world\u2019s \u201cworst violators\u201d of religious freedom, citing the Riyadh regime\u2019s discrimination against Shia minorities, non-Muslims, women and prisoners of conscience.<\/p>\n
In its 2019 report released on Monday, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) listed Saudi Arabia in its tier one category of the states which merit designation as a \u201ccountry of particular concern\u201d or CPC.<\/p>\n
The US State Department first designated Saudi Arabia as a CPC in 2004, but it has maintained an indefinite waiver for Riyadh since 2006.<\/p>\n
The USCIRF recommended that the US State Department re-designate the kingdom as a CPC under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA).<\/p>\n
\u201cShia Muslims in Saudi Arabia continue to face discrimination in education, employment, and the judiciary, and lack access to senior positions in the government and military,\u201d the survey said.<\/p>\n
It also noted that during a USCIRF visit to Saudi Arabia\u2019s mainly Shia-pupulated Eastern Province, certain Shia Muslims had reported harassment and invasions of privacy by the regime\u2019s forces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A US government commission has designated Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as one of the world\u2019s \u201cworst violators\u201d of religious freedom, citing the Riyadh regime\u2019s discrimination against Shia minorities, non-Muslims, women and prisoners of conscience. \u00a0 A US government commission has designated Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as one of the world\u2019s \u201cworst violators\u201d of religious freedom, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":19075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_108372464460192_245495985553329":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n