United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Report:

Summary of Latest USCIRF Report:

·       Public religious practice is generally limited to that which conforms to the officially approved version of Islam.

·       Individuals who publicly criticized the official interpretation of Islam risked harassment, intimidation, detention, and if a foreigner, deportation.

·       Non-Muslim groups in different parts of the country were detained and harassed for private worship.

Latest U.S. Department of State Information:

·       In September 2004, the Secretary of State designated Saudi Arabia as a ?Country of Particular Concern? under the International Religious Freedom Act for particularly severe violations of religious freedom.

·       Basic religious freedoms are denied to all but those who adhere to the state-sanctioned version of Sunni Islam.

·       Citizens are denied the freedom to choose or change their religion, and non citizens practice their beliefs under severe restrictions.

• Thereafter, Saudi Arabia has followed Hereditary Monarchy and the king is officially known as the ?the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques? situated in Mecca and Medina.

Religious Atmosphere:

• Extremely hostile to Christianity.  

Extremist Groups:

• There are reports of religious vigilante groups who harass non-Muslims. The attitude and stance of the government likely gives these groups personal justification for their activities. It is also the main funding ground for many Islamic terrorist groups around the world.

Government:

• Under the government's interpretation of Islam, there is no legal recognition or protection of religious freedom, which is severely restricted in practice.  
• Islam is the official religion. The government believes it has a sacred responsibility as the guardian of the two holiest shrines of Islam, Mecca and Medina. As a result, they desire to remove all non-Muslim influences. Towards this end, they have formed the Mutawwa'in, the religious police.        
• Blasphemy carries the death penalty
• Conversion by Muslims to another religion (apostasy) and proselytizing by non-Muslims are both punishable by death, but there have been no confirmed reports of executions for either crime in recent years.  
• The government recognizes the right of non-Muslims to worship in private; however, it does not always respect this right in practice and does not define this right in law.
• The printing, possession, importing, or distribution of any non-Muslim religious material is banned.

Year 2009 Update:

Jan 28, 2009: A prominent foreign pastor in Saudi Arabia fled Riyadh after a member of the mutawwa'in and others threatened him three times in one week.

Jan 13, 2009: Authorities in Saudi Arabia detained a 28-year-old blogger, Hamoud Bin Saleh for publicly writing about his conversion from Islam to Christianity on his website.