WorldNetDaily: U.S. official: Saudi repression not 'severe'


That's right, that Saudi Arabia.

The U.S. State Department today named China, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Burma and Sudan as "countries of particular concern" due to ongoing, "egregious" violations of religious freedom, a designation that requires a policy response within 90 days.


For the third straight year, however, it omitted Saudi Arabia, considered by many human-rights analysts to be among the world's most repressive nations.


"Saudi Arabia is very close to meeting the threshold for designation," State Department spokesman Jeffrey Jamison told WorldNetDaily. "But at this point, the determination is that the situation remains as it has been in previous years."[...]

Yeah...bad. It doesn't seem a big deal in and of itself, and probably isn't, but you just know someone's going to come along and say "SA isn't repressive, if it were, why isn't it on the State Department's list?" Feh.