U.S. criticizes Saudi Arabia

The United States, for the first time, has named Saudi Arabia as a country that severely violates religious freedom, potentially subjecting the close U.S. ally to sanctions.

"Freedom of religion does not exist" in Saudi Arabia, the State Department said in its annual report on international religious freedom. "Freedom of religion is not recognized or protected under the country's laws and basic religious freedoms are denied to all but those who adhere to the state-sanctioned version of Sunni Islam," the report said, adding that "non-Muslim worshippers risk arrest, imprisonment, lashing, deportation and sometimes torture."

The United States also identified seven other nations as "countries of particular concern": Burma, China, Iran, North Korea and Sudan, which were on the State Department's list of concern last year, and Eritrea and Vietnam, which were added this year. Iraq was dropped.

Admonishing Saudi Arabia was a switch for the administration, which had resisted calls from human rights groups and key lawmakers that the State Department cite the desert kingdom, a key oil supplier and partner in the war against terrorism, in its annual report.

The designation of Saudi Arabia was made as the Bush administration has come under sharp attack from Democrats, including presidential nominee John F. Kerry for its close relationship with Saudi rulers.

A senior adviser to the campaign, Susan Rice, said Kerry supported the decision, but she accused the administration of taking a "kid glove" approach to Saudi Arabia. "President Bush's record makes clear: The only time he will acknowledge unacceptable Saudi behavior is within weeks of an election," she said.

Administration officials denied that the long-debated action was taken for political considerations.

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