12/01/2018 Saudi Arabia (International Christian Concern) – The New York Daily News reports that Saudi Arabia has failed to remove extremist content promoting violence against religious minorities from the educational curriculum for 2018-2019 school year.
Saudi Arabia had previously pledged to remove all incitement content from its textbooks by 2008 and the government continues to allege that this issue has long since been resolved. However, other reports say otherwise. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) issued a study this past March which says that the curriculum contains incitement content which had been thought removed.
Examples of this content include demeaning non-Muslims and encouraging jihad against them. The execution of apostates is prescribed and children are encouraged not to associate with non-Muslims. Saudi Arabia not only continues to use these textbooks domestically, but exports them to other parts of the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is labeled as a Tier 1 Country of Particular Concern by USCIRF and is listed as number 12 by Open Door’s World Watch List of countries where it is most dangerous to be a Christian.
For interviews with Claire Evans, ICC’s Regional Manager, please contact Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator: press@persecution.org.
