FACTBOX: U.S. assesses rights record in selected Mideast nations

(Reuters) - The U.S. State Department released its annual report on human rights around the world on Tuesday. Below are summaries on selected countries in the Middle East.

EGYPT

In Egypt, a close U.S. ally and major recipient of U.S. aid, the government sought to "thwart" opposition activities, journalists and civil society groups, the report said.

Egyptian authorities continued to hold former presidential candidate Ayman Nour as a "political prisoner," detained Internet bloggers and charged independent journalists with libel and other crimes, including defaming President Hosni Mubarak, it added.

IRAN

The report said Iran, a U.S. adversary since its Islamic revolution in 1979, intensified a crackdown against dissidents, journalists, labor activists and others via "arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture, abductions, the use of excessive force, and the widespread denial of fair public trials."

Iran continued to detain and abuse religious and ethnic minorities and to use stoning as a method of execution and as a sentence for adultery cases despite a 2002 government moratorium on the practice.

"The regime continued to support terrorist movements and violent extremists in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon and called for the destruction of a U.N. member state," the report added in what appeared to be an allusion to Israel.

IRAQ

"Sectarian, ethnic, and extremist violence, coupled with weak government performance in its ability to uphold the rule of law, resulted in widespread, severe human rights abuses and the creation of large numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons," the report said.

The report said that 2007 began with the most deadly six-month period since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, followed by a sharp decline in civilian deaths in the second half of the year following the "surge" of U.S. troops.

"Government institutions were greatly stressed and faced difficulty in successfully responding to the challenges presented by widespread human rights abuses and attacks by Al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists and extremist groups," it added.

LEBANON

"Democracy and human rights progress in Lebanon continued to face opposition in the form of a campaign of violence and assassination and foreign-backed efforts to prevent the functioning of the government," the report said.

"Militant groups continued efforts to terrorize public and political figures, including through a series of car bombings and assassinations during the year," it added. "The Lebanese opposition, backed by outside forces, continued to block the election of a president by refusing to allow parliament to convene," the report said.

SYRIA

"Syria's human rights record worsened this year, and the regime continued to commit serious abuses such as detaining an increasing number of activists, civil society organizers, and other regime critics," the report said.

"The regime sentenced to prison several high-profile members of the human rights community," the report said, adding Syria tried some political prisoners in criminal courts, including two on charges of "weakening the national sentiment during the time of war."

The report also accused Syria of supporting "international terrorist groups and violent extremists, enabling their destabilizing activities and human rights abuses in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, and elsewhere."

(Writing by Arshad Mohammed, editing by David Wiessler)