[Editor: The report was delivered to the Congress on February 25 and
could not be found on the internet. Most likely it has not yet been published and thus the author
may have depended on the report of 2002 which mentions the same stories about Shari’a based
penalties]
The latest report released by the U.S. State Department concerning human
rights in the Middle East for year 2003 [report is not yet available online but the report of
2002 is available] coincides with the U.S. itself committing major crimes, like occupying an
independent country and bringing down its system against the will of its people.
The
report strongly attacked the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and focused on what it described as daily
violations as a result of the application of the Wahabi version of the Islamic Shari’a. The
report specified non-Muslims and women as the target of these hard-line violations. The report
stated that Saudi Arabia restricts the freedom of its citizens in the name of Islam: it forces
them to close their shops five times a day for prayer, forces all women to wear a uniform [black
cloaks that covers them from head to toe], and bans non-Muslims from practicing their faith.
What was mentioned in the report is evidence that there are behind-the-curtain movements
to pressure Saudi Arabia to stop applying a number of Islamic hadds, such as the adultery hadd,
the theft hadd, and the hadd on drinking alcohol. The U.S. claimed that such laws contravene with
international conventions and called for abolishing the heritage law, which is based on Qur’anic
verses, because it violates the right to equality [equality between men and women].
The
report stated that any Muslim who converts to another religion is considered an apostate [from
Islam], and according to the Islamic Shari’a and the government’s interpretations of the
provisions of the Shari’a, the punishment for apostasy is execution. The report stated that these
Islamic traditions are carried out according to the precise interpretation of the Wahabi school
of thought [Wahabi teachings were developed by Muhammad Ibn Abdel Wahhab, a conservative
religious reformer who lived in 18th century Saudi Arabia].
The same report criticized
the Saudi government’s banning of any overt practice of other religions. In cases of overt
practicing of other faiths, non-Muslims might be forced to stop [the prayer], whipped and
deported. The Saudi government has blatantly announced before the U.N. Human Rights Committee
that Saudi Arabia respects non-Muslims practicing their religion in secret. Senior Saudi
officials confirmed this position but stressed they would not allow any churches to be built in
the country.
But Saudi Arabia was not the only country that was targeted in the report of
American advice. Syria, Iran and other countries were also mentioned. And this uncovers the truth
of the American stand toward the Islamic faith, which is reflected in the Greater Middle East
Initiative.
• See art. 20: Egyptian Minister of Education denies the US interfere in
educational curricula in Egypt
