Blinken criticizes countries over 'religious freedom', KSA included
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The US State Department issues its annual report on religious freedom in the world in 2021 and discusses religious freedom in many countries, including Saudi Arabia.
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Blinken criticizes countries for "religious freedom," including the KSA.
The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, criticized the conditions for "religious freedoms" in many countries, including Saudi Arabia, China, and Afghanistan.
At a press conference on the occasion of the release of the US State Department's annual report on religious freedom in the world for 2021, Blinken said that "Islam in Saudi Arabia is the only religion that can be practiced," criticizing the Kingdom for discriminating against members of religious minorities.
Although the US, according to Blinken, acknowledges "the important recent moves to increase interfaith dialogue and religious tolerance in the Kingdom" it regrets that "the practice of any religion other than Islam remains illegal."
"Publicly practicing any faith other than Islam remains illegal, and the government continues to discriminate against members of religious minority communities," he said.
In the same context, the US Secretary of State accused China of detaining "more than 1 million Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and others ... in internment camps in Xinjiang."
He also touched on the situation in Afghanistan, saying that "conditions for religious freedom have deteriorated dramatically under the Taliban, particularly as they crack down on the basic rights of women and girls to get an education, to work, to engage in society, often under the banner of religion."
For his part, the US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Rashad Hussein, considered that "this report offers a thorough, fact-based review of the state of religious freedom in nearly 200 countries and territories around the world."
