A U.S. government commission on religious freedom is recommending that Russia be designated as a “country of particular concern” (CPC), putting it in a group of the world’s worst offenders of basic rights on religious worship.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said in its annual report on April 26 that it is, for the first time, recommending Russia be recognized as a offender along with 15 other countries.

The commission said Russia is unique among the countries in its report because it is the only state that “not only continually intensified its repression of religious freedom” but also “expanded its repressive policies to the territory of a neighboring state,” a reference to Moscow’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

The report also cited a 2016 law that it said “effectively criminalized all private religious speech not sanctioned by the state.”

Known as “Yarovaya’s Law,” the legislation tightens restrictions on the activities of religious groups — particularly smaller denominations such as the Mormons and some Christian evangelical sects.

It also noted a Russian Supreme Court ruling earlier in April that imposed a nationwide ban against the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

more:   https://www.rferl.org/a/religious-freedom-commission-russia-pakistan-worst-offenders/28453389.html

The commission also recommended that Pakistan be named a CPC, as it had done in 2016 when then-Secretary of State John Kerry rejected the recommendation.

Pakistan has been selected by the commission for offender status each year since 2002, but the State Department has rejected the recommendation every time.

The latest commission report said Pakistan’s government has “continued to perpetrate and tolerate systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations.”

It also cited “discriminatory constitutional provisions and legislation, such as the country’s blasphemy and anti-Ahmadiya laws” which it says still result in believers being prosecuted and imprisoned.