The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has named 15 nations where abuse of religious liberty is "systematic, egregious, and ongoing," the Religion News website reports today (May 1, 2013).
Of its 15-nation list of the worse offenders, USCIRF includes eight nations that the U.S. State Department also considers "Countries of Particular Concern:" Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan.
The commission wants the State Department to add seven more: Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam.
Turkey -- which was listed as a worse offender of religious liberty by USCIRF last year -- was not listed this year. Turkey became furious last year after it was listed, and called the designation unfounded and damaging to USCIRF's reputation. Nonetheless, Turkey is still being highly criticized by the commission for failing to reopen the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary -- located on an island off the coast of Istanbul -- which it closed down in 1971.
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