Powell adds Saudis to freedom watchlist: Iraq removed from list
The U.S. State Department has for the first time included Saudi Arabia on a list of “countries of particular concern” for not allowing religious freedom—a potential stumbling block for relations between the U.S. and its Persian Gulf ally.
The department’s sixth annual report on international religious freedom also added Eritrea and Vietnam to the roster of countries guilty or tolerant of “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom.” Nations that remained on the list were Burma, China, Iran, North Korea and Sudan. Iraq, which had been on the list, was removed.