No New Nations on US Rel. Freedom Blacklist; State Dept. Fails to List Watchdog's 6 New Nations

The U.S. State Department -- under President Obama -- issued its "countries of particular concern" (CPC) list today (September 13, 2011), maintaining the eight countries that were previously highlighted for egregious violation against religious freedom, according to the Christian Post website.

Burma, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan were again designated as CPCs -- often referred to as the "International Hall of Shame."

Leonard Leo -- chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) -- said while his group welcomes the CPC designations of the Obama administration, it "is concerned that no new countries were added to the list."

USCIRF -- an independent watchdog group on international religious freedom -- had recommended the State Department also label Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam as CPCs.