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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 11, 2005
SCHUMER-COLLINS: 15 SENATORS DEMAND U.S. TAKE STRONGER
ACTION AGAINST SAUDIS FOR EGREGIOUS VIOLATIONS OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS
Bipartisan Letter
Sent in Anticipation of March 15th Deadline for State Dept. to Act
on Saudi Religious Freedom Violations
Freedom House Report Reveals Saudi Government Exports Extremist
Religious Teachings in America
Today, Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Susan Collins (R-ME)
were joined by thirteen colleagues from both sides of the aisle
in sending a letter
to Secretary Condoleezza Rice to express appreciation for the Department
of State’s 2004 designation of Saudi Arabia as a “country
of particular concern” (CPC) for its systematic, ongoing,
and egregious violations of religious freedom. The Senators also
expressed a strong desire to see the relationship between the United
States and Saudi Arabia defined more clearly. This letter was sent
in anticipation of the March 15 deadline for the State Department
to act on their own 2004 designation of Saudi Arabia as a severe
violator of religious freedom as defined by the International Religious
Freedom Act of 1998.
Sen. Schumer said, “It is a massive contradiction that a
country we call an ally could be both so regressive in their own
country and so brazen in its propagation of anti-American, anti-women,
anti-Semitic books, publications, and practices. American security
is undermined as the Saudi government exports these hateful commodities
to millions beyond its borders, planting the seeds for new generations
of terrorists and totalitarian Wahhabi leaders.”
“This report raises some disturbing concerns about the spread
of extremist materials in American mosques and Islamic centers,”
Senator Collins said. “If we are going to win the war on terrorism,
these types of actions cannot be tolerated. It is important that
the Saudi Arabian government join us in this fight and stop supporting
the spread of ideologies that promote hatred and intolerance around
the world.”
The Schumer-Collins bi-partisan letter
refers in part to the Freedom House’s Center for Religious
Freedom report which gathered vast amounts of Saudi government publications
on the ideology of hate in America, as well as Saudi intolerance
towards its own citizens:
· Samples of over 200 books and other publications from American
mosques used to educate its members that preach a “Nazi-like
hatred for Jews” and “promote contempt for the United
States because it is ruled by legislated civil law rather than by
totalitarian Wahhabi-style Islamic law.”
· One such document, distributed through the Saudi Arabian
Embassy’s Cultural Dept. in Washington, is a fatwa against
the taking of American citizenship by Muslims and thereby “acquiescing
to their infidelity and accepting all their erroneous ways.”
· The report explicitly concludes that Saudi Arabia is the
state most responsible for the propagation of these publications
within our borders and that these publications are often official
publications of a Saudi ministry or distributed by the Embassy of
Saudi Arabia in Washington, D.C. to mosques and Islamic centers
in American cities.
· Recent municipal elections completely shut women out of
the process. Saudi Arabia severely limits the freedom of movement
of women and discriminates against women in education, employment,
access to healthcare, marriage, and inheritance.
The Senators urge Sec. Rice to “to persuade the Saudi Arabian
government to work with the United States in curtailing their distribution
… and call for specific actions taken to condemn and curtail
Saudi Arabian support for extremist ideology, promote equality and
reform within Saudi Arabia, and to clearly outline a broad based
foreign policy strategy that will support these goals.”
In agreement with and in support of the U.S. Commission on International
Religious Freedom, the Schumer-Collins letter also calls for the
State Department “to respond decisively to Saudi support for
extremist religious ideologies” as required by the International
Religious Freedom Act of 1998 for countries found to be severe violators
of religious freedom, by:
· Identifying Saudi agencies and officials responsible for
violations of religious freedom and issuing a proclamation barring
Saudi officials who propagate hateful and intolerant ideology from
entering the U.S.;
· Issuing a demarche urging the government of Saudi Arabia
to cease support for activities throughout the world that explicitly
promote hate and human rights violations;
· Ordering the heads of U.S. agencies not to issue licenses
or authorities for the export of items on the Commerce Control List
of dual-use items to an agency or instrument of the government of
Saudi Arabia that is responsible for committing particularly severe
violations of religious freedom;
· Raise concerns at the highest levels with the government
of Saudi Arabia regarding the ongoing and repeated violations of
internationally recognized human rights and to develop specific
initiatives to advance human rights, including the rights of women,
religious freedom, and the rule of law.
The letter concluded, “Saudi Arabia’s efforts to export
militant Wahhabi ideology throughout the world inflame the type
of anti-American sentiments that lie behind the potential of terrorist
attacks that continue to be the greatest threat to our national
security. Therefore, it is essential that Saudi Arabia be held accountable
for its support of radical Islamic ideology.”
The Senators signing the letter are:
Schumer, Collins, Bayh, Chambliss, Smith, Brownback, Ensign, Lautenberg,
Coleman, Wyden, Dodd, Kohl, Nelson (NE), Dorgan, and Santorum.
Click here to view letter.
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