Saudi Arabia
(2000)
Saudi Arabia is an Islamic monarchy without
constitutional protection for freedom of religion, and such protection does
not exist in practice. Islam is the official religion, and all citizens
must be Muslims. The Government prohibits the public practice of other
religions. Private worship by non-Muslims, as defined by the Government, is
recognized officially.
Through published interviews with government officials
and press articles that addressed the subject in the context of human
rights, non-Islamic freedom to worship privately received more attention
and greater respect than in the previous year.
The overwhelming majority of citizens support an Islamic
state and oppose public non-Muslim worship. There is a greater degree of
tolerance of foreigners and non-Muslims in both the eastern and western
provinces than in the isolated central Nejd region. There is
institutionalized discrimination against adherents of the Shi'a branch of
Islam.
The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International
Organizations, the U.S. Ambassador, and other U.S. government officials
have raised the issue of religious freedom with the Government on numerous
occasions during the period covered by this report.
Section I. Government Policies on Freedom of Religion
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. Private worship by
non-Muslims is permitted.
Saudi Arabia is an Islamic monarchy and the Government
has declared the Islamic holy book, the 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.
Islamic practice generally is limited to that of the
Wahabi order, which adheres to the Hanbali school of the Sunni branch of
Islam as interpreted by Muhammad Ibn Abd Al-Wahab, an 18th century Saudi
religious reformer. Practices contrary to this interpretation, such as
visits to the tombs of renowned Muslims, are discouraged. The practice of
other schools of Sunni Islam is discouraged, and there is institutionalized
discrimination against adherents of the Shi'a branch of Islam. The
Government supervises almost all mosques in the country and funds their
construction, maintenance, and operations.
Religious Demography
Sunni Muslims make up approximately 12.1 million of the
country's nearly 14 million citizens.
Seven million foreigners reside in the country,
including about 1.2 million Indians, 1.2 million Egyptians, nearly 800,000
Pakistanis, 600,000 Filipinos, 130,000 Sri Lankans, and 30,000 Americans.
These foreigners include Muslims of different denominations, Christians,
Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, and, presumably, non-believers and atheists.
Comprehensive statistics for the denominations of
foreigners are not available. However, the Filipino Embassy reports that
over 90 percent of the Filipino community (or over half a million persons)
is non-Muslim, including Catholics and Protestants.
The Shi'a Muslim minority (roughly 900,000 persons)
lives mostly in the eastern province, where Shi'a constitute about
one-third of the population.
Governmental Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Ministry of Islamic affairs directly supervises, and
is a major source of funds for, 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 is
responsible for defining 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. 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.
During the period covered by this report, foreign imams
were barred from leading worship during the most heavily attended prayer
times and prohibited from delivering sermons during Friday congregational
prayers. The Government claims that its actions were part of its "Saudiization"
plan to replace foreign workers with citizens.
Under Shari'a (Islamic law), upon which the Government
bases its jurisprudence, conversion by a Muslim to another religion is
considered apostasy. Public apostasy is a crime punishable by death if the
accused does not recant.
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.
During the period covered by this report, two group arrests were made after
religious police raided large Christian congregations during services that
were held on Friday, the Muslim day of rest.
Proselytizing by non-Muslims is illegal, including the
distribution of non-Muslim religious materials such as Bibles. No foreign
missionaries operate legally in the country. During the period covered by
this report, two Filipino men were arrested, charged with proselytizing,
and forced to serve approximately 2 months in prison.
Members of the Shi'a minority are the objects of
officially sanctioned political and economic discrimination. Prior to 1990,
the Government prohibited Shi'a public processions during the Islamic month
of Muharram and restricted other processions and congregations to
designated areas in the major Shi'a cities. Since 1990, the authorities
have permitted 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). No other Ashura celebrations are permitted in
the Kingdom, and many Shi'a travel to Qatif or to Bahrain to participate in
Ashura celebrations.
The Government seldom permits private construction of
Shi'a mosques. Shi'a have declined government offers to build
state-supported mosques because the Government would prohibit the
incorporation and display of Shi'a motifs in any such mosques.
The Government actively discourages Shi'a travel to Iran
to visit pilgrimage sites, although Shi'a citizens are permitted to visit
holy sites in Iraq.
Persons wearing religious symbols of any kind in public
risk confrontation with the Mutawwa'in. This general prohibition against
religious symbols also applies to Muslims. A Christian wearing a crucifix
or a Muslim wearing a Koranic necklace in public might be admonished. A
very strict conservative Islamic dress code requiring extreme modesty is
enforced for Muslim and non-Muslim women alike. Particularly in the more
conservative Nejd region, virtually all women wear an abaya (a long black
cloak), and many wear a headscarf while in public. Failure to do so can
lead to admonishment by Mutawwa'in, and in the past occasionally has led to
arrest. Male modesty also is required. Males going shirtless or in short
pants while in public also risk admonishment.
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.
In accordance with Shari'a, Saudi women are prohibited
from marrying non-Muslims, but Saudi men may marry Christians and Jews, as
well as Muslims.
The Government requires noncitizens to carry Iqamas, or
legal resident identity cards, which contain a religious designation for
"Muslim" or "non-Muslim."
Governmental Abuses of Freedom of Religion
A Filipino man was arrested in June 1999 and another
Filipino man was arrested in July 1999. Both men were charged with
proselytizing, served approximately 2 months in prison, and subsequently
were deported.
There were two group arrests of Filipino Christians made
during the period covered by the report, one of 13 persons in October 1999
and another of 16 persons in January 2000. Both arrests occurred after
religious police raided large Christian congregations during services held
on Friday, the local day of rest. In both instances, government officials
maintained that the religious services were attended by such a large number
of persons that they could not be considered private. Some of those
arrested were charged with illegal assembly and all detainees subsequently
were deported to the Philippines.
There were reports that the authorities arrested a
Christian man in June 2000 for possession of a videotape of a religious
event. There were no formal charges brought against him and he remained in
custody at the end of the period covered by this report.
There were no reports that government security forces
arrested or detained Shi'a on the suspicion of subversion and pro-Iranian
activities, as had been reported in the past.
In April 2000, in the city of Najran, in the southwest
region bordering Yemen, riots took place in which members of the Makarama
Ismaili Shi'a community reportedly engaged in gun battles with security
forces. 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.
Since the 1979 Iranian revolution, some Shi'a suspected
of subversion have been subjected periodically to surveillance and
limitations on travel abroad. 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.
Shi'a who travel to Iran without government permission, or who are
suspected of such travel, normally have their passports confiscated upon
their return to Saudi Arabia for periods of up to 2 years.
As of June 30, 2000, the Government reportedly still
held in jail an unknown number of Shi'a who were arrested in the aftermath
of the Al-Khobar bombing.
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," or 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. In 1999 the Al-Bilad newspaper reported that the Interior
Ministry ordered the execution of a Sudanese man convicted of practicing
magic in Jeddah for 3½ years. The man claimed to be an herbal medicine
expert and had treated a number of women with tonics and potions; he
reportedly possessed 16 spell books and related paraphernalia. The man
reportedly confessed to conspiring with Jinns (beings made of fire who
coexist with humans) in "efforts to separate wives from their
husbands."
Mutawwa'in practices and incidents of abuse varied
widely in different regions of the country, but were most numerous in the
central Nejd region, which includes the capital Riyadh. 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 did not always
comply with the requirements. The Government has not criticized abuses by
Mutawwa'in and religious vigilantes publicly but has sought to curtail
these abuses.
Mutawwa'n enforcement of strict standards of social
behavior included closing commercial establishments during the five daily
prayer observances, insisting upon compliance with strict norms of public
dress, and dispersing gatherings in public places. Mutawwa'in frequently
reproached Saudi and foreign women for failure to observe strict dress
codes, and arrested 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. Current procedures require a police officer to
accompany the Mutawwa'in at the time of an arrest. Mutawwa'in generally
complied with this requirement. During 1999 and through mid-2000, in the
more conservative Riyadh district, the frequency of reports of Mutawwa'in
accosting, abusing, arresting, and detaining persons alleged to have
violated dress and behavior standards was about the same as in 1998. The
Jeddah district also received a similar number of reports as in 1998.
In November 1998, several Mutawwa'in attacked and killed
an elderly Shi'a prayer leader in Hofuf for repeating the call to prayer
twice (a traditional Shi'a practice). Mutawwa'in attempts to cover up the
killing were unsuccessful. The Government reportedly was investigating the
incident, but there has been no further information on the case.
Criticism of the Mutawwa'in has appeared in the largely
government-controlled press. Also, according to reports, the Mutawwa'in 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.
Customs officials routinely open mail and shipments to
search for contraband, including material that is deemed pornographic, and
non-Muslim religious material. Customs officials confiscated or censored
materials considered offensive, including Bibles and religious videotapes.
Improvements in Respect for Religious Freedom
Through published interviews with government officials
and press articles that addressed the subject in the context of human
rights, non-Islamic freedom to worship privately received more attention
and greater respect than in the previous year.
Senior officials in the Government publicly reaffirmed
the right of non-Muslims to engage in private religious worship. In an
address to the 56th session of the U.N. Committee on Human Rights in April
2000, Prince Turki bin Muhammad bin Saud Al-Kabir, King Fahd's son-in-law
and the Director of the International Organizations Department of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that "non-Muslims enjoy full
freedom to engage in their religious observances in private." The
media widely disseminated Prince Turki's speech and the media increasingly
acknowledges the right to private non-Muslim worship. Such private
non-Muslim worship occurs on a wide scale throughout the country, including
on the premises of several foreign embassies.
Other high-level Saudi officials repeatedly confirmed
during the period covered by this report that the Government's policy
allows for private non-Muslim worship and that the Government does not
sanction investigation or harassment of such private worship services.
These officials ascribed any residual harassment of private worship
services or seizure of personal religious materials such as Bibles or icons
to individuals and organizations acting on their own authority and in
contradiction of government policy. Representatives of Christian
denominations present in the country report that the Government is not
interfering with private worship services as long as those services remain
discreet.
Forced Religious Conversion of Minor U.S. Citizens
Under Saudi law, children of Saudi fathers are
considered Muslim, regardless of the country 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. 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 Saudi Arabia was
subjected to pressure--and at times force--by her Saudi relatives to
renounce Christianity and conform to Islamic norms and practices.
Section II. Societal Attitudes
Members of the Shi'a minority constitute nearly 8
percent of the citizenry and are discriminated against in government
employment, especially with respect to positions that relate to national
security, such as the military or the Ministry of the Interior. The
Government also restricts employment of Shi'a in the oil industry. Shi'a
are the objects of government discrimination in higher education in the
form of unofficial restrictions on the number of Shi'a admitted to
universities.
Improved relations between Iran (a predominately Shi'a
nation) and Saudi Arabia (a majority Sunni nation) during the period
covered by this report have affected positively the overall climate of
Sunni-Shi'a relations in general.
Relations between Saudi Muslims and foreign Muslims are
generally good. Foreign Muslims of all denominations 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. All sermons are
monitored. There are no separate mosques for foreigners.
Relations between Saudis and non-Muslim foreigners
reflect the general relationship between 14 million Saudi citizens and 7
million foreigners residing in the Kingdom. Saudis from the historically
isolated central Nejd region have had less exposure to foreigners and tend
to be more reserved and insular. There is a greater degree of tolerance
toward foreigners in both the eastern and western provinces, where trade
and pilgrimage have exposed citizens living in coastal areas to foreigners
and their customs for many centuries.
Non-Muslims who undertook religious observances
privately and discreetly were not disturbed during the period covered by
this report. However, several problems resulted after Saudi citizens
complained to the authorities about services being held on rooftops, in
full view and within hearing range of Muslims living nearby.
In certain areas, religious vigilantes acting on their
own harassed, assaulted, battered, arrested, and detained citizens and
foreigners.
The overwhelming majority of citizens support an Islamic
state and oppose public non-Muslim worship. Citizens often ask foreigners
about religious matters to determine a person's religion, attitudes, and
knowledge of Islam. Under the auspices of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs,
about 50 so-called "Call and Guidance" centers employing about
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 personal testimonials.
Section III. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Ambassador, the U.S. Embassy's Deputy Chief of
Mission, the U.S. Consuls General in Jeddah and Dhahran, the Embassy's
Political Counselor, and other political officers have raised the issue of
religious freedom on numerous occasions during the period covered by this
report. The Embassy's human rights officer met several times with Filipino
Christian group members and Philippine embassy staff during the period of
detention and deportation of persons suspected of involvement with
Christian proselytizing groups.
Several meetings were held during the period covered by
this report in which the issue of religious freedom was raised. The
Embassy's Political Counselor delivered a demarche on religious freedom to
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs official in charge of human rights. The
Assistant Deputy Foreign Minister met with David Welch, the U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State for International Organizations, the Embassy's Deputy
Chief of Mission, and the Political Counselor regarding religious freedom
and human rights issues. Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal met with Welch and
the Political Counselor regarding religious freedom and human rights
issues. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs official in charge of human rights,
including freedom of religion, met with the Embassy's political human
rights officer.
Sources: U.S. State Department - Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor |