USCIRF Report Criticizes Lack of Progress On Religious Liberty In Saudi Arabia

Yesterday, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released a long report (full text) that is highly critical of Saudi Arabia for failing to implement promised reforms designed to protect human rights, including the free exercise of religion. USCIRF recommended that the U.S. government strengthen its human rights diplomacy with the Saudis and address Saudi exportation of extremist ideology, hatred and intolerance in educational material sent around the world. The report also recommended a number of other steps to further religious liberty in Saudi Arabia, including dissolving of the Commission to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice. A widely circulated AP article focuses on a recommendation in the report that the Islamic Saudi Academy, a private K-12 school in Fairfax County, Virginia, be closed down until the school's textbooks can be reviewed. [Thanks to Melissa Rogers for the lead.]