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Home > Guide To The Arab World > Saudi > Freedom Of Freedom in Saudi Arabia |
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The US International
Religious Freedom Report · Saudi Arabia. Freedom of religion
does not exist in Saudi Arabia: · Sudan as a "country of
particular concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act for
particularly severe violations of religious freedom. · Iran as a "country of particular
concern." · Iraq as a "country of particular
concern." International Religious Freedom Report Saudi Arabia is an Islamic monarchy without legal protection for freedom of
religion, and such protection does not exist in practice. Islam is the
official religion, and all citizens are Muslims. Based on its
interpretation of the hadith, or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, the
Government prohibits the public practice of non-Muslim religions. The
Government recognizes the right of non-Muslims to worship in private; however,
the distinction between public and private worship is not clearly defined, and
at times the Government does not respect in practice the right to private
worship. There generally was no change in the status of religious freedom during the
period covered by this report; however, the number of arrests for public
worship of other religions decreased compared with the previous period.
Freedom of non-Muslims to worship privately has received increasing attention
and respect in recent years through published interviews with government
officials and press articles that addressed the subject in the context of human
rights; however, the right to private worship still is restricted. The
Government has stated publicly that its policy is to protect the right of
non-Muslims to worship privately; however, it does not provide explicit
guidelines for determining what constitutes private worship, which makes
distinctions between public and private worship unclear. Such lack of
clarity, as well as instances of arbitrary enforcement by the authorities,
force most non-Muslims to worship in such a manner as to avoid discovery by the
Government or others. Members of the Shi'a minority continued to face institutionalized political
and economic discrimination, including restrictions on the practice of their
faith. However, the Government lifted the requirement that Shi'a obtain
advance permission to travel to Iran, thus effectively allowing them to visit
religious sites in Iran without prior notice. The overwhelming majority of citizens support an Islamic state and oppose
public non-Muslim worship. There is societal discrimination against
adherents of the Shi'a minority. Senior U.S. government officials and members of the U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom raised the issue of religious freedom with the
Government on numerous occasions during the period covered by this report. Section I. Religious Demography The country's total land area is 5,273,965 square miles and its population
is 15 million. There are approximately 14 million Sunni Muslims in the
country. Approximately 1 million citizens are Shi'a Muslims, who live
mostly in the eastern province, where they constitute approximately one-third
of the population. Seven million foreigners also reside in the country, including approximately
1.5 million Indians, 900,000 Bangladeshis, 800,000 Egyptians, nearly
800,000 Pakistanis, 600,000 Filipinos, 130,000 Sri Lankans, and 36,000
Americans. Comprehensive statistics for the denominations of foreigners
are not available, but they include Muslims from the various branches of Islam,
Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and Jews. For example, the Embassy of the
Philippines reports that over 90 percent of the Filipino community (or over
half a million persons) is Christian. The Embassy of India reports that
the Indian community includes Muslims and Hindus, as well as Christians and
Buddhists. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops estimates there are
well more than 500,000 Catholics in the country, and perhaps as many as 1
million. There is no information regarding the number of atheists in the
country. There is no information regarding whether there are foreign missionaries in
the country. Proselytizing is not permitted. Section II. Status of Religious Freedom Legal/Policy Framework Freedom of religion does not exist. Islam is the official religion,
and all citizens must be Muslims. The Government prohibits the public
practice of other religions. The Government recognizes the right of
private worship by non-Muslims; however, it does not always respect this right
in practice. Saudi Arabia is an Islamic monarchy and the Government has
declared the Holy Koran and the Sunna (tradition) of the Prophet Muhammad to be
the country's Constitution. The Government bases its legitimacy on
governance according to the precepts of the rigorously conservative and strict
interpretation of the Hanbali school of the Sunni branch of Islam and discriminates
against other branches of Islam. Neither the Government nor society in
general accepts the concepts of separation of religion and state, and such
separation does not exist. The legal system is based on Shari'a (Islamic law), with Shari'a
courts basing their judgments largely on a code derived from the Holy Koran and
the Sunna. The Government permits Shi'a Muslims to use their own legal
tradition to adjudicate noncriminal cases within their community. Restrictions on Religious Freedom Islamic practice generally is limited to that of the Wahhabi order, which
adheres to the Hanbali school of the Sunni branch of Islam as interpreted by
Muhammad Ibn Abd Al-Wahhab, an 18th century Arab religious reformer.
Practices contrary to this interpretation, such as visits to the tombs of
renowned Muslims, are discouraged, as is the practice of other schools of Sunni
Islam. The spreading of Muslim teachings not in conformance with the
officially accepted interpretation of Islam is prohibited. Writers and
other individuals who publicly criticize this interpretation, including both
those who advocate a stricter interpretation and those who favor a more
moderate interpretation than the Government's, reportedly have been imprisoned
and faced other reprisals, although there were no reports of such actions
during the period covered by this report. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs supervises and finances the construction and
maintenance of almost all mosques in the country. The Ministry pays the
salaries of imams (prayer leaders) and others who work in the mosques. A
governmental committee defines the qualifications of imams. The
Mutawwa'in (religious police, who make up the Committee to Promote Virtue and
Prevent Vice) are government employees, and the president of the Mutawwa'in
holds the rank of cabinet minister. Foreign imams are barred from leading worship during the most heavily
attended prayer times and prohibited from delivering sermons during Friday
congregational prayers. The Government states that its actions are part
of its "Saudiization" plan to replace foreign workers with citizens. Under Shari'a conversion by a Muslim to another religion is considered
apostasy, a crime punishable by death if the accused does not recant.
There were no executions for apostasy during the period covered by this report,
and no reports of any such executions for the past several years. The Government prohibits public non-Muslim religious activities. Non-Muslim
worshippers risk arrest, lashing, and deportation for engaging in overt
religious activity that attracts official attention. The Government has
stated publicly, including before the U.N. Committee on Human Rights in Geneva,
that its policy is to protect the right of non-Muslims to worship privately; however,
it does not provide explicit guidelines--such as the number of persons
permitted to attend and acceptable locations--for determining what constitutes
private worship, which makes distinctions between public and private worship
unclear. Such lack of clarity, as well as instances of arbitrary
enforcement by the authorities, force most non-Muslims to worship in such a
manner as to avoid discovery by the Government or others. During the
period covered by this report, the number of reports of detentions and deportations
related to non-Muslim worship has decreased compared to the previous period,
and there were no reports of lashings. The Government does not permit non-Muslim clergy to enter the country for
the purpose of conducting religious services, although some come under other
auspices. Such restrictions make it very difficult for most non-Muslims
to maintain contact with clergymen and attend services. Catholics and
Orthodox Christians, who require a priest on a regular basis to receive the sacraments
required by their faith, particularly are affected. Proselytizing by non-Muslims, including the distribution of non-Muslim
religious materials such as Bibles, is illegal. There were no reports
during the period covered by this report of arrests for proselytizing.
Muslims or non-Muslims wearing religious symbols of any kind in public risk
confrontation with the Mutawwa'in. Under the auspices of the Ministry of
Islamic Affairs, approximately 50 so-called "Call and Guidance"
centers employing approximately 500 persons work to convert foreigners to
Islam. Some non-Muslim foreigners convert to Islam during their stay in
the country, including more than 200 persons in Jeddah each year. The
press often carries articles about such conversions, including testimonials. The Government requires noncitizens to carry Iqamas, or legal resident
identity cards, which contain a religious designation for "Muslim" or
"non-Muslim." Members of the Shi'a minority are the subjects of officially sanctioned
political and economic discrimination. The authorities permit the
celebration of the Shi'a holiday of Ashura in the eastern province city of
Qatif, provided that the celebrants do not undertake large, public marches or
engage in self-flagellation (a traditional Shi'a practice). The
celebrations are monitored by the police; however, police presence at the April
2001 Ashura celebrations reportedly was much less prominent than in previous
years. No other Ashura celebrations are permitted in the country, and
many Shi'a travel to Qatif or to Bahrain to participate in Ashura
celebrations. The Government continued to enforce other restrictions on
the Shi'a community, such as banning Shi'a books. Shi'a have declined government offers to build state-supported mosques
because they fear the Government would prohibit the incorporation and display
of Shi'a motifs in any such mosques. The Government seldom permits private
construction of Shi'a mosques. In March 2001, religious police reportedly
closed a Shi'a mosque in Hofuf because it had been built without government
permission. Members of the Shi'a minority are discriminated against in government
employment, especially with respect to positions that relate to national security,
such as in the military or in the Ministry of the Interior. The
Government restricts employment of Shi'a in the oil and petrochemical
industries. The Government also discriminates against Shi'a in higher
education through unofficial restrictions on the number of Shi'a admitted to
universities. Since the 1979 Iranian revolution some Shi'a suspected of subversion have
been subjected periodically to surveillance and limitations on travel
abroad. Prior to 2001, the Government actively discouraged Shi'a travel
to Iran to visit pilgrimage sites due to security concerns. Shi'a who
went to Iran without government permission, or who were suspected of such
travel, normally had their passports confiscated upon their return for periods
of up to 2 years. However, according to press reports, in early 2001, the
Government lifted the requirement that citizens intending to travel to Iran
seek permission in advance from authorities. This change corresponds with
improving relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Advance
permission for travel to Iraq, whether for business or religious pilgrimage,
has been necessary for some time due to security concerns, but such travel
remains possible. Under the Hanbali interpretation of Shari'a law, judges may discount the testimony
of people who are not practicing Muslims or who do not have the correct
faith. Legal sources report that testimony by Shi'a is often ignored in
courts of law or is deemed to have less weight than testimony by Sunnis.
For example, in May 2001, a judge in the eastern province asked two witnesses
to an automobile accident if they were Shi'a. When they so confirmed, the
judge announced to the court that their testimony was inadmissible.
Sentencing under the legal system is not uniform. Laws and regulations
state that defendants should be treated equally; however, under Shari'a as
interpreted and applied in the country, crimes against Muslims may result in
harsher penalties than those against non-Muslims. Customs officials routinely open mail and shipments to search for
contraband, including non-Muslim materials, such as Bibles and religious
videotapes. Individuals generally are able to bring religious materials
into the country for personal use. Islamic religious education is mandatory in public schools at all
levels. All children receive religious instruction, which generally is
limited to that of the Hanbali school of Islam. Non-Muslim students in
private schools are not required to study Islam. Women are subject to discrimination under Shari'a as interpreted in the
country. In a Shari'a court, a woman's testimony does not carry the same
weight as that of a man: The testimony of one man equals that of two
women. Female parties to court proceedings, such as divorce and other
family law cases, generally must deputize male relatives to speak on their
behalf. Although Islamic law permits polygyny, with up to four wives, it is becoming
less common due to demographic and economic changes. Islamic law enjoins
a man to treat each wife equally. In practice such equality is left to
the discretion of the husband. Some women participate in Al-Mesyar (or
"short daytime visit") marriages, in which the women relinquish their
legal rights to financial support and nighttime cohabitation. In
addition, the husband is not required to inform his other wives of the
marriage, and any children resulting from such a marriage have no inheritance
rights. Women may not marry noncitizens without government permission;
men must obtain approval from the Ministry of Interior to marry women from
countries outside the six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council. In
accordance with Shari'a, women are prohibited from marrying non-Muslims; men
may marry Christians and Jews, as well as Muslims. While Shari'a provides women with a basis to own and dispose of property
independently, women often are constrained from asserting such rights because
of various legal and societal barriers, especially regarding employment and
freedom of movement. In addition, daughters receive half the inheritance
awarded to their brothers. Women must demonstrate legally specified grounds for divorce, but men may
divorce without cause. In doing so, men are required to pay immediately
an amount of money agreed upon at the time of the marriage, which serves as a
one-time alimony payment. Women who demonstrate legal grounds for divorce
still are entitled to this alimony. If divorced or widowed, a Muslim
woman normally may keep her children until they attain a specified age: 7 years
for boys, 9 years for girls. Children over these ages are awarded to the
former husband or the deceased husband's family. Numerous divorced
foreign women continued to be prevented by their former husbands from visiting
their children after divorce. Failure of Muslim women to wear an abaya or headscarf can lead to
admonishment (and in the past occasionally has led to arrest) by some
Mutawwa'in enforcing their own interpretation of religious doctrine. Abuses of Freedom of Religion During the period covered by this report, the Government continued to commit
abuses of religious freedom. Information about government practices is
incomplete because judicial proceedings are closed to the public and the
Government restricts freedom of speech and association. In addition, the
media exercises self-censorship regarding sensitive issues such as religious
freedom, there are no independent nongovernmental organizations that monitor
religious freedom, and the Government does not issue visas to foreign human
rights organizations to conduct independent investigations. Thus, reports
of abuses often are difficult or impossible to corroborate. The Government continued to commit abuses against members of the Shi'a
minority. Since beginning the investigation of the 1996 bombing of the
U.S. military installation at Al-Khobar, in which a number of eastern province
Shi'a were arrested, authorities have detained, interrogated, and confiscated
the passports of a number of Shi'a Muslims. The Government reportedly
continued to detain an unknown number of Shi'a who were arrested in the
aftermath of the Al-Khobar bombing. Government security forces reportedly
arrest Shi'a based on the smallest suspicion, hold them in custody for lengthy
periods, and then release them without explanation. According to various reports, a number of Shi'a sheikhs (religious leaders)
were arrested and detained during the period covered by this report.
Amnesty International (AI) reported that Sheikh Ali bin Ali al-Ghanim was
arrested in August 2000 at the border with Jordan and held by the Mabahith, the
national investigative bureau that is part of the Ministry of Interior.
In March 2001, Mabahith officers reportedly arrested and detained Sheikh
Mohammed Al Amri in Medina. Early in 2000, a Shi'a sheikh was taken into custody and three other sheikhs
were arrested for unknown reasons near the border with Jordan. Human
Rights Watch reported that at least seven additional Shi'a religious leaders
reportedly remained in detention at the end of the period covered by this report
for violating restrictions on Shi'a religious practices. According to AI,
Hashim Al-Sayyid Al-Sada, a Shi'a cleric suspected of political or religious
dissent, was arrested in his home in April 2000 and reportedly remained held
incommunicado at the end of the period covered by this report. The Government continued to detain non-Muslims engaged in worship services,
although at times it was unclear whether the services constituted public or
private worship. For example, on November 30, 2000, police broke up a
gathering of 60 Christians worshiping in a rented building and detained 5 of
the worshipers for approximately 1 hour for questioning. In December
2000, authorities broke up a private Christian worship service of 12 Filipino
citizens, arrested 6 of the Filipinos, and detained 3 of those arrested for
nearly 2 months. On April 20, a Filipino Christian man reportedly was
stopped at a routine police checkpoint while driving a woman from a Christian
service. After discovering religious materials in the car, the police
detained the man for 2 days. In August 2000, authorities released a Christian Indian national who had
been arrested in June 2000 for possession of a videotape of a religious
event. According to the Indian Embassy, the man spent approximately 2
months in jail and was released pending deportation on charges of violating the
labor law. There were reports during the period covered by this report
that authorities interrogated members of the tiny Baha'i community regarding
the size and status of their community, although there were no reports of any
additional actions taken against them. In April 2000, in the city of Najran, in the southwest region bordering
Yemen, rioting by members of the Makarama Ismaili Shi'a eventually led to an
attack by an armed group of Shi'a on a hotel that contained an office of the
regional governor. Security forces responded, leading to extended gun
battles between the two sides. Some press reports indicated that the
rioting followed the arrest of a Makarama Ismaili Shi'a imam and some of his
followers on charges of "sorcery." Various other reports
attributed the unrest to the closure of two Ismaili Shi'a mosques and the
provincial governor's refusal to permit Ismailis to hold public observances of
the Shi'a holiday of Ashura. Still other reports attributed the unrest to
a local crackdown on smuggling and resultant tribal discontent. Officials
at the highest level of the Government stated that the unrest in Najran was not
the result of Shi'a-Sunni tension or religious discrimination. After the
unrest ended the Government stated that 5 members of the security forces were
killed, and Ismaili leaders claimed that as many as 40 Ismaili tribesmen were
killed. There was no independent confirmation of these claims. In October
2000, AI reported that two Ismaili Shi'a teachers, who were arrested in April
2000 following the unrest, were convicted on charges of sorcery and sentenced
to 1,500 lashes; however, this report could not be confirmed. Magic is widely believed in and sometimes practiced, often in the form of
fortune-telling and swindles; however, under Shari'a, the practice of magic is
regarded as the worst form of polytheism, an offense for which no repentance is
accepted and which is punishable by death. There are an unknown number of
detainees held in prison on the charge of "sorcery," including the
practice of "black magic" or "witchcraft." In a few
cases, self-proclaimed "miracle workers" have been executed for sorcery
involving physical harm or apostasy. Mutawwa'in practices and incidents of abuse varied widely in different
regions of the country. While reports of incidents were most numerous in
the central Nejd region, which includes the capital Riyadh, reports of
incidents in the eastern province increased during the period covered by this
report. In certain areas, both the Mutawwa'in and religious vigilantes
acting on their own harassed, assaulted, battered, arrested, and detained
citizens and foreigners. The Government requires the Mutawwa'in to follow
established procedures and to offer instruction in a polite manner; however,
Mutawwa'in do not always comply with the requirements. The Government has
not criticized abuses by the Mutawwa'in directly, but criticism of the group
has appeared in the largely government-controlled English-language press.
The Government has sought to curtail these abuses; however, the abuses
continue. Mutawwa'in enforcement of strict standards of social behavior included
closing commercial establishments during five daily prayer observances,
insisting upon compliance with strict norms of public dress and dispersing
gatherings in public places. Mutawwa'in frequently reproached citizen and
foreign women for failure to observe strict dress codes, and detained men and
women found together who were not married or closely related. The Mutawwa'in have the authority to detain persons for no more than 24
hours for violation of strict standards of proper dress and behavior; however,
they sometimes exceeded this limit before delivering detainees to the
police. Procedures require a police officer to accompany the Mutawwa'in
at the time of arrest. Mutawwa'in generally complied with this
requirement. According to reports, the Mutawwa'in also are no longer
permitted to detain citizens for more than a few hours, may not conduct
investigations, and may no longer allow unpaid volunteers to accompany official
patrols. Forced Religious Conversion Under the law, children of Saudi fathers are considered Muslim, regardless
of the county or the religious tradition in which they may have been
raised. In some cases, children raised in other countries and in other
religious traditions who came to Saudi Arabia or who were taken by their Saudi
fathers to Saudi Arabia reportedly were coerced to conform to Islamic norms and
practices, although forcible conversion is prohibited. There were no
reports of the forced religious conversion of minor U.S. citizens who had been
abducted or illegally removed from the United States during the period covered
by this report, or of the Government's refusal to allow such citizens to be
returned to the United States. However, there was a report that prior to
the period covered by this report, at least one U.S. citizen child in the
country was subjected to pressure--and at times force--by her Saudi relatives
to renounce Christianity and conform to Islamic norms and practices. The
child has since returned to the United States. Improvements and Positive Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom The Government welcomed two delegations on freedom of religion from the
United States: Members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious
Freedom visited in March 2001 and the Director of the Office of International
Religious Freedom in the U.S. Department of State visited in January
2001. In meetings with these officials and others, senior Saudi
government officials stated that the Government will not interfere in private
non-Muslim worship and invited the U.S. Government to provide specific
information if that policy is violated. According to press reports, in early 2001, the Government quietly lifted the
requirement that Shi'a obtain advance permission to travel to Iran, thus
effectively allowing them to visit pilgrimage sites in Iran without prior
notice. Section III. Societal Attitudes There is societal discrimination against members of the Shi'a minority;
however, improved relations between Iran (a predominately Shi'a nation) and
Saudi Arabia in the period covered by this report continued to improve the
climate of Sunni-Shi'a relations in the country. The overwhelming majority of citizens support an Islamic state and oppose
public non-Muslim worship. The majority of non-Muslims who undertook religious
observances privately and discreetly during the period covered by this report
were not disturbed; however, problems occurred after some Saudis complained to
the authorities about services by their neighbors. While some non-Muslims
claim that paid informants infiltrate their private worship groups and that
employers did not renew the work contracts of non-Muslim employees who were
found to be participating in worship groups, employers indicated contracts were
not renewed because of performance problems or efforts to increase employment
opportunities for Saudi workers. Relations between Saudi Muslims and foreign Muslims are generally
good. Each year the country welcomes approximately 2 million Muslim
pilgrims from all over the world and of all branches of Islam, who visit the
country during a 2-week period to perform the Hajj. Foreign Muslims of
all denominations may pray freely in mosques as long as they follow Saudi Sunni
prayer practices, although foreign imams have a more difficult time obtaining
employment in mosques than their Saudi counterparts. In certain areas, religious vigilantes unaffiliated with the Government and
acting on their own harassed, assaulted, battered, arrested, and detained
citizens and foreigners. Section IV. U.S. Government Policy Senior U.S. government officials and members of the U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom raised the issue of religious freedom with
government officials on numerous occasions during the period covered by this
report. U.S. government officials met with senior government officials to
confirm the Government's commitment to permit private non-Muslim worship and to
discuss other concerns related to religious freedom. In September 2000,
U.S. Embassy officers met with Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) officials to
deliver and discuss the U.S. Government's 2000 Annual Report on International
Religious Freedom and to protest the detention of Filipino worshippers arrested
in December 2000. In addition, Embassy officers met with MFA officials at
various other times during the year on matters pertaining to religious freedom.
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