{"id":71029,"date":"2019-12-21T18:16:23","date_gmt":"2019-12-21T17:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=71029"},"modified":"2019-12-21T18:16:23","modified_gmt":"2019-12-21T17:16:23","slug":"u-s-places-nigeria-others-on-special-watchlist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/u-s-places-nigeria-others-on-special-watchlist\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S Places Nigeria, others \u00a0On Special Watchlist\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"m#msg-f:1653548900918870407\" class=\"mail-message expanded\">\n<div class=\"mail-message-header spacer\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mail-message-content collapsible zoom-normal mail-show-images \">\n<div class=\"clear\">\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>The United States has placed Nigeria on its\u00a0Special Watch-List (SWL) for governments that have engaged in or tolerated severe violations of religious freedom.<\/p>\n<p>This was\u00a0announced in a statement by Mike Pompeo,\u00a0US secretary of state, on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Other countries added to the list besides Nigeria are Cuba, Nicaragua and Sudan.<\/p>\n<p>The US secretary of state did not say why Nigeria was added to the list, but it may be connected to the clampdown on the\u00a0Islamic Movement\u00a0in\u00a0Nigeria (IMN) by the government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn December 18, 2019, the Department of State re-designated Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan as Countries of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 for having engaged in or tolerated \u201csystematic, ongoing, [and] egregious violations of religious freedom,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Department renewed the placement of Comoros, Russia, and Uzbekistan on a Special Watch List (SWL) for governments that have engaged in or tolerated \u201csevere violations of religious freedom,\u201d and added Cuba, Nicaragua, Nigeria, and Sudan to this list.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSudan was moved to the SWL due to significant steps taken by the civilian-led transitional government to address the previous regime\u2019s \u201csystematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pompeo also announced that the Department of State has designated Boko Haram as an \u201centity of particular concern\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, the designation is to underscore the US stance on the need for religious freedom and tolerance.<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201cFinally, we designated al-Nusra Front, al-Qa\u2019ida in the Arabian Peninsula, al-Qa\u2019ida, al-Shabab, Boko Haram, the Houthis, ISIS, ISIS-Khorasan, and the Taliban as Entities of Particular Concern.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese designations underscore the United States\u2019 commitment to protect those who seek to exercise their freedom of religion or belief.\u00a0 We believe that everyone, everywhere, at all times, should have the right to live according to the dictates of their conscience.\u00a0 We will continue to challenge state and non-state entities that seek to infringe upon those fundamental rights and to ensure they are held to account for their actions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo country, entity, or individual should be able to persecute people of faith without accountability.\u00a0 We have acted, and we will continue to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"m_-1098519972114060518pagination\">\n<div data-width=\"374px\" data-minwidth=\"\" data-maxwidth=\"\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"mail-message-footer spacer collapsible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The United States has placed Nigeria on its\u00a0Special Watch-List (SWL) for governments that have engaged in or tolerated severe violations of religious freedom. This was\u00a0announced in a statement by Mike&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>U.S Places Nigeria, others \u00a0On Special Watchlist\u00a0 - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/u-s-places-nigeria-others-on-special-watchlist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"U.S Places Nigeria, others \u00a0On Special Watchlist\u00a0 - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The United States has placed Nigeria on its\u00a0Special Watch-List (SWL) for governments that have engaged in or tolerated severe violations of religious freedom. 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