Commission on Religious Freedom 2014 report: the real human rights villains

On April 30, 2014, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released the 2014 Annual Report on religious freedoms in various countries around the world. The Commission recommended re-designation of eight countries as "countries of particular concern," or CPCs, under the U.S. International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 for egregious religious freedom violations: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan. It also recommended that eight additional countries be designated as CPCs: Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam.

This is some of what the 2014 Report found on religious freedom in Iran:
"The already-poor religious freedom conditions in Iran continued to deteriorate...The government of Iran continues to engage in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, including prolonged detention, torture, and exe­cutions based primarily or entirely upon the religion of the accused...Over the past few years, the Iranian government has imposed harsh prison sentences on promi­nent reformers from the Shi'a majority community... Iranian state television regularly airs programs demonizing Sufism...As of February 2014, at least 135 Baha'is, nearly twice the number than in 2011, are being held in prison solely because of their religious beliefs ...Over the past year, there were numerous incidents of Iranian authorities raiding church services, threaten­ing church members, and arresting and imprisoning worshippers and church leaders ...The government continues to propagate anti-Semitism and target members of the Jewish community on the basis of real or perceived "ties to Israel." Numerous programs broadcast on state-run television advance anti-Semitic messages... "

The religious freedom record of China includes the following abominations:
"The Chinese government continues to perpetrate particularly severe violations of religious freedom. For Tibetan Buddhists and Uighur Muslims, conditions are worse now than at any time in the past decade...Protestants and Catholics who refuse to join the state-sanctioned religious organizations continue to face severe restrictions, including efforts to undermine and harass their leaders, arrest and detentions...The Chinese government continued its 15-year cam­paign to eradicate Falun Gong activity and pressure practitioners to renounce their beliefs... Practitioners who do not renounce their beliefs in detention are subject to torture, including credible reports of deaths in custody and the use of psychiatric experiments and possible organ harvesting."

The record of Saudi Arabia includes the following:
"Saudi Arabia remains unique in the extent to which it restricts the public expression of any religion other than Islam. Not a single church or other non-Muslim house of worship exists in the country. The govern­ment privileges its own interpretation of Sunni Islam over all other interpretations. It also has arrested individuals for dissent, apostasy, blasphemy, and sorcery...The CPVPV (Commission for the Promo­tion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which reports to the King and is not sub­ject to judicial review, officially enforces public moral­ity and restrictions on public religious manifestations and practice by both Saudis and non-Saudis... its members have been accused over the past year of beating, whipping, detaining, and otherwise harassing individuals...
High school textbooks in use during the 2013–2014 school year continue to teach hatred toward mem­bers of other religions and, in some cases, promote violence. For example, some justified violence against apostates and polytheists and labeled Jews and Chris­tians 'enemies'."

In Sudan the Commission found the following:
"The government of Sudan led by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir continues to engage in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of freedom of reli­gion or belief. It imposes a restrictive interpretation of Shari'ah law on Muslims and non-Muslims alike, using amputations and floggings for crimes and acts of "indecency" and "immorality" and arresting Chris­tians for proselytizing... These religious freedom violations, as well as the violence in Southern Kordofan, Blue Nile, and Darfur, are the result of President Bashir's policies of Islamization and Arabization...Conversion from Islam is a crime punishable by death...Three men were sen­tenced to death by crucifixion after being found guilty ofr murder ... As in previous years, several amputation sentences for those found guilty of theft were reported. Hundreds of women were flogged or fined for 'inde­cent' dress."

This is just part of the religious freedom record of North Korea:
"The government of North Korea tightly controls all religious activity and perpetuates an extreme cult of personality venerating the Kim family as a pseudo-reli­gion. Individuals engaged in clandestine religious activ­ity are arrested, tortured, imprisoned, and sometimes executed. Thousands of religious believers and their families are imprisoned in penal labor camps, includ­ing refugees repatriated from China...North Korea maintains a songbun system, which classifies families according to their loyalty to the Kim family; religious believers have the lowest songbun rating. Spreading Christianity is a political crime. Many religious believers are incarcer­ated in infamous penal labor camps...Recently-published ref­ugee testimony indicates that the wife of a Chinese mili­tary officer was publicly executed in 2009 for possessing a Bible..."

And the record of religious freedom in Pakistan includes:
"Violence against Christians continued... During the reporting period, individual Ahmadis contin­ued to be murdered in religiously-motivated attacks...Allegations of kidnapping of Hindu women, followed by forced conversions to Islam and forced marriages to Muslim men, continued to arise throughout the report­ing period...
Blasphemy Laws
...USCIRF is aware of at least 17 individuals on death row and 19 more serving life sentences [for blasphemy]. Many others have been charged and await trial. The Pakistani government continues to block YouTube out of concerns that its hosts 'blasphemous content.' Blasphemy laws...the so-called crime carries the death penalty or life in prison, does not require proof of intent or evidence to be presented after allegations are made, and does not include penalties for false allegations. Further, the laws do not provide clear guidance on what constitutes a violation, empowering accusers to apply their personal religious interpreta­tions."