Washington (AsiaNews) – The US will not impose any sanctions against Saudi Arabia, which is "seriously committed" to improving conditions of religious freedom in the kingdom and to "collaborating for the promotion of human rights". The decision was taken by the US State Department after a series of talks with Saudi representatives, who reiterated their pledge to safeguard religious minorities in the Islamic country and to guarantee the freedom of practicing faiths different from Islam in private. But not everyone shares this faith in Saudi promises, which so far have been broken. Only a few months ago American officials called on George W. Bush to take decisive action against Arabia, where "religious freedom" does not exist.

On 19 July, the US State Department ambassador for religious freedom, John Hanford, told Congress he was satisfied with the reforms under way in Saudi Arabia. His statements followed a series of meetings between members of Hanford's team and Saudi officials about the inclusion of Saudi Arabia on the "black list" of religious freedom.

As a nation described as being "of particular concern" in the department's two last annual reports on religious freedom in the world, Saudi Arabia should be subject to commercial sanctions. Already in December, Washington gave it a "temporary added extension of 180 days" to implement reforms requested; the deadline was up in March and nothing changed. As the spokesman of the same department noted, Washington decided to continue waiving punitive measures, given that Riyad "is collaborating to achieve greater tolerance and to set up a human rights commission".

Anonymous sources said that as part of the agreement with Washington, the Saudi authorities promised to: ban the use of state funds for textbooks – a recent study revealed they were full of incitements to religious hatred – and to hold new refresher courses for teachers and imams, as well as to introduce human rights education in curricula. Riyad also gave assurance that it would protect the right to practice one's religion in private and to regulate the competencies of the religious police, who persist in arresting believers who pray at home.

Only last May, Michael Cromartie, head of the Congress committee for international freedom of worship, said Saudi's record of religious freedom had not shown any substantial improvement for two years. Cromartie said religious freedom "did not exist" in the kingdom and he urged the government take "decisive action" against Riyad like the imposition of limitations on the travel of Saudi officials and exports.