Dr Swett recommended that pressure be brought to bear on Cairo not only to bring to justice the violent attackers and those who incite violence, but also to repeal discriminatory decrees against religious minorities, remove religion from official identity documents, abolish anti-blasphemy laws and pass a unified law for building and repairing places of worship.
The chairperson of the USCIRF said that while religious minorities in Iraq and Egypt are threatened by a climate of impunity that encourages violence against them by private citizens, in other Mideast nations, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, the biggest threat they face comes from the direct hand of government.
Dr. Swett, who was appointed by a US Presidential and Congress joint decree to chair the Commission revealed also the situation in Saudi Arabia “where the problem is a religious ideology that represses all religious competition and is exported globally through literature which fuels violence against disfavored religious groups, we recommend that the United States lift its waiver on the application of punitive measures on the Saudis for these and other abuses.”
Regarding the state of the religious minorities in Iran, Dr Swett said Iran is a theocratic republic run by Shia clerics who continue to tyrannize the nation, and religious minorities Muslim and non-Muslim alike are among its worst victims” adding that even Shia majority dissidents are also targeted. Dr Lantos pointed out that “Last September, for example, a Sufi Muslim was killed and several were injured during a crackdown in southwestern Iran”
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