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Index of Publications from government/NGO sources:

January 27, 2008: (U.S.) Five Reasons Indigenous Media Ministries Are Vital to Christian Witness in the Middle East

January 2008: (Iran) You Can Detain Anyone for Anything’: Iran’s Broadening Clampdown on Independent Activism

December 2007: (Turkey) New Report Shows Increasing Repression of Freedom of Expression

November 2007:(Egypt) Prohibited Identities: State Interference with Religious Freedom

October 2007: (Syria) No Room to Breathe : State Repression of Human Rights Activism in Syria

September 2007: (U.S.) U.S. Department of State's 2007 Report on International Religious Freedom.

May 2007: (Egypt) Egypt's Human Rights Council Membership

May 2007: (Egypt) Annual Report US Commission on International Religious Freedom concerning Islamic extremism advancing in Egypt

April 2007: (Egypt) Egypt tortures in name of national security

June 2006: (U.S.) Al-Qaeda: The Many Faces of an Islamist Extremist Threat

January 2006: (Saudi Arabia) Saudi government promotes hatred in American mosques

January 2008: (U.S.)Five Reasons Indigenous Media Ministries Are Vital to Christian Witness in the Middle East. "For Christians living in extremely remote areas or for those keeping their faith a secret, media transmissions often provide the only source of encouragement and training." This new report explains why media transmissions are an important encouragement for persecuted Christians in the Middle East.

January 2008: (Iran) You Can Detain Anyone for Anything’: Iran’s Broadening Clampdown on Independent Activism. "The Iranian government is relying on its broadly worded 'security laws' to suppress virtually any public expression of dissent, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. It uses these laws to subject those arrested to prolonged incommunicado detention without charge, solitary confinement, and denial of access to counsel."

December 2007: (Turkey) ARTICLE 19 is pleased to announce the publication of a joint fact-finding mission report on the current state of media freedom in Turkey. In July 2007, ARTICLE 19 co-organised a mission with The Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP), Index on Censorship, the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC) and the Centre for European Studies, Limerick, Ireland, in response to reports of rapidly increasing violations of the right to freedom of expression in Turkey.

November 2007:(Egypt) Prohibited Identities: State Interference with Religious Freedom. "He said I’d committed a sin against God. He asked why I wanted to go back to Christianity. 'If you had bad luck with your first husband, you should have found another Muslim man.' He offered me assistance and favors. 'I can find you a good Muslim man,' he said. 'If it's financial, we can help you find a job. If you went back to your family for lack of any alternative, we'll help you find an apartment.' When I insisted on staying a Christian, he said, 'Well, we have to start an investigation into the forgery.' – Golsen Sobhi Kamil

October 2007 - "No Room to Breathe: State Repression of Human Rights Activism in Syria," is a 46-page report published by Human Rights Watch that documents the restrictions imposed on activists by examining the legal environment in which they operate and the government practices to which they are subject. It also charts the development of Syria's human rights community and the challenges it faces today. It is based on extensive interviews with representatives of all of Syria's major human rights groups, independent lawyers, and members of the international diplomatic community in Damascus.

September 2007 - The U.S. Department of State releases the ninth annual International Religious Freedom Report

John V. Hanford III, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, presented the ninth annual report on religious freedom in 198 nations of the world at a press conference in Washington, D.C. on September 14. The report speaks about the deterioration of the situation in Egypt in regards to freedom of religion.

An excerpt from the report on Egypt gives an overview of the situation facing religious minorities:

"The Constitution provides for freedom of belief and the practice of religious rites, although the Government places restrictions on these rights in practice. Islam is the official state religion and Shari'a (Islamic law) is the primary source of legislation; religious practices that conflict with the Government's interpretation of Shari'a are prohibited. Members of non-Muslim religious minorities officially recognized by the Government generally worship without harassment and maintain links with coreligionists in other countries; however, members of religious groups that are not recognized by the Government, particularly the Baha'i Faith, experience personal and collective hardship.

"The status of respect for religious freedom by the Government declined during the period covered by this report; there continued to be abuses and numerous restrictions, and some improvements. Despite the passage of constitutional amendments that underscored the principle of equal citizenship rights regardless of religion, several high-profile prosecutions and legal decisions against religious minorities during the reporting period called into question the commitment of the Government to the principle of religious freedom. Some of these cases remained under appeal at the end of the reporting period.

"On April 24, 2007, the Court of Administrative Justice ruled that the Interior Ministry was not obligated to recognize conversion to Christianity by Christian-born converts to Islam. The Court ruled that such recognition would violate the prohibition against apostasy under Islamic Shari'a and constitute a "manipulation of Islam and Muslims." This ruling was inconsistent with verdicts issued over the previous 3 years by another judge in the same court on behalf of 32 such converts and maintained a government policy not to provide a legal means for converts from Islam to Christianity to amend their civil records to reflect their new religious status. The previous court rulings had ordered the Interior Ministry to issue amended identification cards to the 32 citizens who sought to reconvert to Christianity.

"In May and June 2007, officials of the State Security Intelligence Service (SSIS) arrested members of "the Quranis," who were subsequently charged with "denigrating religions." Sources close to Bahaa al-Accad, a convert from Islam to Christianity who was detained for 25 months without charge, reported SSIS officials threatened his personal security following his April 28, 2007 release. On February 22, 2007, Abdel Karim Nabil Suleiman, whose blog entries had contained strongly worded critiques of the practice of Islam and the Sunni Muslim orthodoxy of the Azhar educational system, was sentenced to 3 years in prison for "denigrating Islam." During the reporting period, SSIS agents reportedly detained a Jehovah's Witness and, while making demeaning comments about the Jehovah's Witnesses, struck the detainee repeatedly and threatened him and his family with ongoing harassment unless he agreed to become an informant on the Witness community.

"The Government again opposed advances in the respect for religious freedom affecting Baha'is. A government appeal of an April 2006 decision by the Administrative Court, which had supported the right of Baha'i citizens to receive ID cards and birth certificates with religion noted on the documents, resulted in a December 16, 2006 decision to overturn its ruling, and maintained the government prohibition on Baha'i citizens obtaining identity cards.

"In December 2005 the President decreed that permits for church repair and rebuilding, previously requiring his approval, could be granted by provincial governors. The Government announced that the purpose of this was to reduce delay. However, despite the 2005 decree, as well as a previous presidential decree in 1999 to facilitate approvals, many churches continued to encounter the same difficulties in obtaining permits. The central Government continued to control the granting of permits for construction of new churches.

"Tradition and some aspects of the law discriminated against religious minorities, including Christians and particularly Baha'is. The Government also continued to deny civil documents, including identity cards, birth certificates, and marriage licenses, to members of the Baha'i community.

"There continued to be religious discrimination and sectarian tension in society during the period covered by this report. On May 11, 2007, a group of Muslim citizens attacked Christians in the village of Bamha. In the ensuing violence, Muslims reportedly set fire to or looted 27 shops and homes of Christians and injured 12 Christians, 1 seriously. The police responded quickly to contain the incident and arrested approximately 60 people. On September 16, 2006 in Awlad Azaz village, Sohag governorate, some minor injuries occurred when Muslim and Christian villagers clashed over land use near the Monastery of Saint Shenouda. An SSIS official reportedly brokered a deal that resulted in the land being equally divided between Christians and Muslims.

"The Ambassador, senior administration officials, and members of Congress continued to raise U.S. concerns about religious discrimination with senior government officials. Specifically, the Embassy and other State Department officials raised concerns with the Government about ongoing discrimination faced by Christians in building and maintaining church properties despite Decree 291 of 2005, official discrimination against Baha'is, and the Government's treatment of Muslim citizens who wish to convert to other faiths.

"The policy of the United States is to condemn violations of religious freedom and to promote the enjoyment of this fundamental right for all," said Hanford. "Our continuous work on this issue all across the globe tangibly reflects the commitment of the American people to those who suffer religious discrimination or persecution as the cost of their faith." Hanford said some estimate half of humankind live under persecution or serious restriction of their religious freedom."

Reporters at the conference began the question and answer session focusing on the Middle Eastern countries of Iraq, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia:

QUESTION: Yeah. Can you comment on the report's findings on Iraq that religious freedom has deteriorated sharply over the last year?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: Well, what we're dealing with in Iraq is really a security situation that makes it difficult for religious practice to occur in a normal way. The constitution of the new Iraqi Government actually provides rather robust guarantees, and this is something we're very pleased to see because it's a very good constitution for that region of the world. But religious minorities are vulnerable, sometimes due to their small numbers and lack of organization. For the most part, people are getting caught in the crossfire. In the case of these minorities, though, there have been cases where it's clear that certain groups have been targeted.

The real problem that we're dealing with is that with the sectarian violence, not necessarily focused upon religious practice, that at the same time religious practice winds up being affected.

QUESTION: The report speaks about the deterioration of situation in Egypt. Is there a chance that Egypt could be listed as a Country of Particular Concern?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: Well, we are not announcing today at this time what countries are going to be put on the list this year. We'll do that probably fairly soon. Last year we did it in November and perhaps about the same timeframe this year.

In the case of Egypt, there's a balance of considerations to bear in mind. For the most part, the large majority of citizens are able to practice their faith with some degree of freedom and there is a very large population of minority believers. Some of the problems that we have faced this year has to do, for example, with conversion, which of course is controversial throughout the Muslim world. The Government of Egypt has denied conversion to Christianity even by people who were born into a Christian family, later converted to Islam and then want to go back. And there are cases where converts have been held and sometimes received physical abuse.

We are pleased that one particular case that -- where a gentleman was held for 25 months, Bahaa al-Accad, that he was released not long ago, but now his life is under threat. Also we're very concerned about the Baha'i minority and there was a decision by the Administrative Court that would have given the Baha'is additional rights to have identity cards and the right, but the government appealed that decision because they did not want Baha'is to be able to have their religion on identity cards and succeeded in reversing what we felt was a positive decision by their own court system.

QUESTION: You say in the report that there have been improvements in Saudi Arabia.

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: I know you're not indicating who's going to come off the list, but do you think it's a marked improvement by Saudi Arabia or do you think they still have a long way to go?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: For the most part, the items which we highlighted last November and last summer that we had been discussing in ongoing engagement with the Saudis, for the most part these are issues which the government has confirmed and identified are their policies, but they're very much still in the process of being worked out. And this has to do with, for example, reining in the mutawwa'in, the religious police, from raiding religious gatherings. To a large extent, the government has been successful in stopping this practice. The government has guaranteed the right to private worship for people of minority faiths. And any given week, you've got an enormous number of Christians and Jews and Hindus and Buddhists who are meeting and freely practicing in homes and places like that without harassment. This is an improvement.

But we've also discussed with the Saudis the need to address the intolerant literature in their textbooks, in other educational materials that not only are used in Saudi Arabia but throughout the world because the Saudis have exported them. And they have given assurances that they are in the process, and we have been working to confirm the progress on this, of removing all intolerant references towards other faiths. They have made progress on this, but there is a ways to go for these references to be fully removed.

QUESTION: A follow-up? Can I follow on Saudi Arabia?

QUESTION: Just a couple months ago, the Commission -- the Religious Freedom Commission said that it visited Saudi Arabia and was denied the ability to meet with any government officials on this issue. And when you talk about religious groups being able to meet in private, this is not a satisfactory situation for you, is it, that, you know, in the privacy of a home some people can, you know, practice their religion. I mean, you support the public free practice of religion, correct?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: That's certainly correct. In the case of Saudi Arabia, I think it's important first for there to be the freedom to securely meet, as has happened for many years, in homes, and for the raids and the other problems, the deportations, the arrests, to cease. I'm not sure that the security situation right now, even if there were people who favored allowing minority faiths to build places of worship, I'm not sure that would be a good idea at this point, frankly.

In the long run, we hope that there'll be certainly a much broader respect for religious freedom in Saudi Arabia. But for now, I think a realistic goal is to create space and security for people to be able to meet. And they do in relatively large numbers and are able in most cases to hold services and religious observances that are similar to what you would see in a place of worship.

In terms of the commission's meetings, they were able to meet with some government officials. I think there were some officials that they requested to meet with who weren't available, and so they were disappointed by that.

QUESTION: Saudi Arabia. Will you keep Saudi Arabia on the list of states with special concerns?

AMBASSADOR HANFORD: Well, I can't indicate now. That's a decision ultimately that the Secretary of State makes and we've not even gone to her with our thoughts and recommendations.

But to explain a little more what I said earlier, some of the things which we have shared over the last year that we're encouraged by are in the early stages of implementation. And I think these are -- these are significant given the context in Saudi Arabia and given the history. And we are -- I think here King Abdullah deserves a lot of credit. He has very publicly called for tolerance. He is working, for example, to grant greater representation by the Shia minority and there've been -- you know, there's been some significant success there where we now have seven Shia judges. There need to be more, but that's two more than a year ago. And so he's moving to create a more tolerant society that allows people of minority faiths to practice more freely.

But what we call in our report "positive developments" or "policy announcements" does not necessarily mean that that has been worked out and implemented yet.

For an index to the full report, click here.

May 2007 - Human Rights Council Membership Requires Steps to Address Violations -- A Briefing Paper by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) and Human Rights Watch (HRW)

Egypt was elected to the world's highest human rights council on May 17,2007 by the United Nations General Assembly. Egypt's reputation as a country that has an appalling human rights record calls into question the wisdom of Egypt's new membership the UN's Human Right's Council.

In a briefing paper, Human Rights Watch and Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights "submit that Egypt has not upheld 'the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights,' and regret that Member States did not 'take into account the contribution of candidates to the promotion and protection of human rights,' pursuant to General Assembly Resolution 60/251 when electing Egypt to the Council. Nevertheless, as a member of the Human Rights Council, this is now an opportunity to scrutinize Egypt's human rights record and to ensure it meets the benchmarks it committed to prior to being elected."

According to HRW's article: "Egypt: Mark New UN Post by Ending Abuses -- Uphold Promises Made in Election to Human Rights Council," (May 26, 2007), the Egyptian government's "appalling domestic rights record includes routine torture in police stations, arbitrary arrests of non-violent dissidents, and crippling restrictions on civil society organizations."

The briefing paper explains that "torture prosecutions have also been hampered by legal definitions of the crime. Under article 126 of Egypt's Penal Code, torture is limited to physical abuse, occurs only when the victim is 'an accused,' and only when torture is being used in order to coerce a confession. This narrow definition improperly excludes cases of mental or psychological abuse, and cases where the torture is committed against someone other than 'an accused' or for purposes other than securing a confession."

Opposition lawmakers have been unable to change this law, so Egypt's definition of torture does not match with international definitions of torture, according to the briefing paper.

May 2007 - Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom

According to this report's section on Egypt, "Human rights organizations inside the country are seriously concerned that Islamic extremism is advancing in Egypt, with detrimental effects on the prospects for democratic reform, religious tolerance, and the rights of women and girls and members of religious minorities." The report urges Egypt to "repeal Article 98(f) of the Penal Code, which 'prohibits citizens from ridiculing or insulting heavenly religions or inciting sectarian strife'; allow for full access to the constitutional and international guarantees of the rule of law and due process for those individuals charged with violating Article 98(f); and release Internet blogger Abdel Karim Suleiman and any individuals convicted under Article 98(f) on account of their religion or belief."

Muslim converts to Christianity may face prosecution under Article 98(f), as well as anyone else who publicly criticizes Islam.

To read the full report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, click here.

April 11, 2007 - Egypt: New anti-terror law must not entrench systematic human rights abuses (Source: Directly quoted from Amnesty International Press Release)

Cairo – The Egyptian authorities have been committing systematic abuses of human rights in the name of national security, Amnesty International said in a new report published today. During a press conference held in Cairo, the organization urged the government to ensure the planned anti-terrorism law does not entrench these human right abuses.

The report, Systematic abuses in the name of security, follows an earlier warning by the organization last month that current constitutional changes and a planned new anti-terrorism law could further threaten human rights.

“Thousands of Egyptians have been locked up in the name of security; some have been held without charge or trial for years, often despite court orders for their release, while others have been sentenced after grossly unfair trials,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme. “The Egyptian government has a duty to protect the public and combat terrorism, but when doing so it must abide by basic human rights standards and its obligations under international law – and this, too often, it has failed signally to do.”

The report describes arbitrary arrests, prolonged detention without trial, torture and other ill-treatment by security officials, particularly the State Security Investigations (SSI) services, who have wide powers under the state of emergency that the government has maintained almost continuously for the past 40 years. It also condemns the use of special emergency and military courts to try civilians accused of security offences, and says their proceedings are unfair. Some of those tried by such courts have been sentenced to death and executed.

According to the report, Egypt has also been a key destination in the US-led global “war on terror”. Many Egyptian nationals suspected of terrorism have been transferred from abroad by the US, European and Arab governments despite the risk of torture, and have then been detained and tortured. The fate of some, who were victims of unlawful “renditions” by the USA, remains unknown. Their identities have never been disclosed, nor why they are being held or where.

"The Egyptian authorities must come clean and disclose the number, names, nationality and current whereabouts of all terrorism suspects extradited, subjected to “rendition” or otherwise transferred into their custody from abroad," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

The report lists six key recommendations for action by the government to break the cycle of abuses, including an end to incommunicado and secret detention and for all torture allegations to be promptly and properly investigated.

“Torture is widely used by the SSI officers and other security and law enforcement bodies but allegations are rarely investigated and when they are, very little results,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui. “The government must lift the shroud of impunity that protects those who torture in the name of the state.”

It is essential for the Egyptian government to allow the UN human rights experts on torture and on countering terrorism immediate access at a time when it is preparing new anti-terrorism legislation. Such visits would be a clear indication of the government’s commitment to uphold its international human rights obligations.

Amnesty International repeats its concern that the latest amendments to the Constitution and the forthcoming introduction of a new anti-terrorism law could pave the way for further abuses. Although no draft has yet been made public, in preparing its new anti-terrorism law the Egyptian authorities said they have looked at similar legislation in a number of countries, including the USA.

“It would be a gross error for Egypt to model its new anti-terrorism law on the US Patriot Act,” said Curt Goering, Senior Deputy Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. “The Patriot Act is reviled by many in the USA as a fundamental attack on long cherished freedoms because of the cavalier manner in which it sacrificed human rights and the rule of law in the name of security.”

June 2006 - Al-Qaeda: The Many Faces of an Islamist Extremist Threat -- Report of The U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

This report quotes US Ambassador Francis Taylor, Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security, in “Emerging Threats to Homeland Security,” May 10, 2004. Taylor says:

"Islamist extremism, as it is discussed throughout this report, refers to the political philosophy that says that, in order to defend a carefully defined vision of Islam and protect pious Muslims around the world, one has to impose, essentially, a 7th century political structure over the people of the Islamic world, and that this political structure must be implemented by violent Jihad, or Holy War. We are not looking at Muslims who practice their faith fundamentally —there is nothing wrong with practicing religion in a fundamental way." (page 7)

Practicing Islamic faith "fundamentally" means, to many Muslims, following Mohammed's teachings involving infidels, and apostates - those who make a decision to leave Islam of their own volition. Multiple scholars attribute the saying to Mohammed that "Who reliquishes his faith, kill him." It is this particular fundamental practice of the Islamic faith that has caused severe friction and persecution in countries that allow some form of Islamic philosophy to enter into the country's laws, such as in Egypt's case with article 98F. The May 2007 Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom urged repeal of this law. This law, however, and the execution of its enforcement, is a result of the practice of fundamental Islamic faith, one could say.

For this reason, it is unfortunate that Taylor's quote is included in this report without some elaboration on his original intent in this statement. There is something wrong with practicing any religion in a fundamental way when such practice denies the basic human right to life and liberty.

This U.S. Congressional report also says America is involved in a "new type of war -- one where the enemy is not a nation, but a movement. Our enemy seeks to inflict massive civilian casualtlies." (Page. 21) This movement is a religious idea that aims for world domination, according to Walid Phares, author of The War of Ideas: Jihadism Against Democracy (2007).

Phares says: "The jihadists aim at the re-creation of what they perceive as a caliphate, merging dozens of Muslim countries into one world power. They want to impose strict religious laws on the people of the caliphate and claim furthermore that this form of government is ordained by God. Hence they have no tolerance for man-made legislation, and politics is tightly scripted by the militant interpreters of faith. The followers of Jihadism openly or discreetly, as well as those who share the Islamists' enemies, have moved worldwide to obstruct the rise of secular democracies, especially within the realm of the Muslim world. They plan to resume what they believe is a millennial project: world domination." (p. xviii)

January 2006 - Saudi government promotes hate ideology in American mosques

"In January of 2006, Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom released a new report exposing the dissemination of hate propaganda in America by the government of Saudi Arabia. The 89-page report, 'Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Fill American Mosques,' is based on a year-long study of over two hundred original documents, all disseminated, published or otherwise generated by the government of Saudi Arabia and collected from more than a dozen mosques in the United States." Among the findings: it is a religious obligation for Muslims to hate Christians and Jews, democracy is un-Islamic, and Muslims should behave as if they were on a mission behind enemy lines when living in non-Islamically controlled nations. [From www.freedomhouse.org]