FACTBOX: U.S. cites repression of religious freedoms

(Reuters) - The United States on Monday presented its annual survey of global religious freedom, noting progress in areas such as interfaith dialogue but continued repression in North Korea, Iran and other countries.

The State Department's International Religious Freedom Report (www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf) surveyed 198 countries. Following are some of the conclusions in the report, which cited eight countries for "special concern" over their limits to religious freedom:

NORTH KOREA

North Korea's communist government, often cited as one of the world's worst abusers of human rights, is also a harsh opponent of religious liberty, the report said.

"Genuine religious freedom does not exist," it said.

Despite a relative lack of information, the report said North Korea maintained a raft of controls over religious groups and religious practice.

"The government deals harshly with all opponents, including those who engage in religious practices deemed unacceptable by the regime," the report said, adding that some of the estimated 150,000-200,000 people believed held in political prison camps were there for their religious beliefs.

"Prison conditions were harsh, and refugees and defectors who had been in prison stated that prisoners held on the basis of their religious beliefs generally were treated worse than other inmates," the report said.

IRAN

Respect for religious freedom in the Islamic republic deteriorated over the past nine months with the government creating a threatening environment for almost all religious minorities, the report said.

"All non-Shi'a religious minorities suffered varying degrees of officially sanctioned discrimination," it said, adding that Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians were also targeted despite official status as "protected" religious minorities.

Iran's practice of Islamic law, its restrictions on non-Muslim religious expression and the overlap of religious and political ideologies made the country particularly hostile to religious freedom, particularly for the Baha'i religious minority, which reports that more than 200 Baha'is have been killed since Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979.

CHINA

The report found some signs of progress in China with regard to state-approved religions. But it noted continued severe repression in Tibet, home of the exiled Dalai Lama, and among Xinjiang's Muslim Uighurs, who saw protests violently put down in July.

"The government repressed the religious activities of 'underground' Roman Catholic clergy in large part due to their avowed loyalty to the Vatican, which the Government accused of interfering in the country's internal affairs. The Government also continued to restrict severely the activities of groups it designated as 'evil religions,' including several Christian groups and Falun Gong," the report said.

The report said the government harassed several prominent religious leaders during the February 2009 visit of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and often classified membership in an unregistered religious group as a crime of "disturbing the social order."