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Individuals imprisoned for their religion or belief continue to face state repression even upon their release. For example, in Saudi Arabia, China, and Egypt, many released prisoners face bans on leaving the country, preventing them from visiting family, speaking freely about their experiences, or finding work or residency in other countries. Such bans often have little oversight, transparency, or opportunity for appeal. In Vietnam, individuals are pressured not to speak to media or post on social media. In Nicaragua they are deported from the country as a condition for their release. Individuals in Iran may be forbidden from joining social groups or civil society organizations or face restrictions on their religious activities. They also may be sent into internal exile, miles away from their family and friends.  In this episode of USCIRF Spotlight, Chair Vicky Hartzler speaks with Freedom House President Gerardo Berthin about individuals who continue to face restrictions on their religious freedom even after leaving prison. The episode highlights USCIRF-recommended CPC and SWL countries where such practices are in place and discusses policy recommendations for Congress and the administration to hold accountable governments engaged in these restrictions.

The Burmese military maintains its grip over Burma through arson, arbitrary detentions, airstrikes, killings, and other forms of intimidation and violence to instill fear in its people, including ethnoreligious minorities such as Rohingya and Chin. The lack of justice for the junta’s atrocities has deepened its resolve, yet Burmese people are seeking accountability through the legal principle of universal jurisdiction.  On this episode of the USCIRF Spotlight podcast, Commissioner Stephen Schneck speaks with Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK, and Salai Za Uk Ling, the Executive Director of the Chin Human Rights Organization. Their discussion centers on the principle of universal jurisdiction and how civil society organizations are seeking to prosecute responsible individuals through courts overseas for their part in ordering and carrying out genocide and crimes against humanity.

Despite sanctions and repeated condemnation against the Burmese military, the ruling junta continues to unleash brutal attacks against its own people, including religious minorities such as Muslim-majority Rohingya and Christian-majority Chin, Kachin, and Karen communities. Several global efforts to hold the Burmese military accountable through a variety of international legal mechanisms are now underway. On this episode of the USCIRF Spotlight podcast, Commissioner Stephen Schneck speaks with Tom Andrews, former Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, as well as Arsalan Suleman, a partner at Foley Hoag’s International Litigation and Arbitration Practice. They focus their discussion on the ongoing case in the International Court of Justice which prosecutes the Burmese government’s role in the Rohingya genocide.

Alongside advocacy efforts, targeted programming is a tool certain governments and intergovernmental agencies use to strengthen religious freedom. There have been several key programs that have advanced international religious freedom in Asia, including the now terminated USAID’s Asia Religious and Ethnic Freedom (REF) program and the United Nation’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM). On this episode of the USCIRF Spotlight podcast, Chair Vicky Hartzler speaks with Nolen Deibert, former Chief of Party of the USAID-funded Asia Religious and Ethnic Freedom (REF), as well as Nicholas Koumjian, the Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM). They focus their discussion on the benefits of programming that advances religious freedom, particularly in Asia.

In Central Asia, independent media plays an essential role in shedding light on freedom of religion of belief (FoRB) violations. As a result, Central Asian governments attempt to silence independent journalists and bloggers to conceal their FoRB abuses. Such intimidation campaigns often include harassment, the closure of independent outlets, baseless prison sentences, and more. However, Central Asian reporters in the diaspora and other foreign journalists have long filled in these reporting gaps, contributing to the efforts of human rights defenders who promote FoRB. On this episode of the USCIRF Spotlight podcast, Vice Chair Asif Mahmood speaks with Felix Corley, editor of Forum-18 News Service, and Bruce Pannier, a research fellow at the Turan Research Center with over 25 years of experience covering Central Asia in different capacities. Together, they discuss the importance of independent journalism in promoting FoRB in Central Asia.

North Korea remains one of the most dangerous places in the world for individuals from all religious backgrounds, particularly for Christians. Organized religion in North Korea has reportedly been almost entirely eliminated. North Korean escapee testimony is the primary and the most important source of information on the Kim regime’s violations of freedom of religion or belief in North Korea, yet fewer North Koreans than ever have been able to escape North Korea since the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, China has become increasingly complicit in the North Korean government’s persecution of religious adherents and practitioners while repatriating North Korean escapees back to North Korea.     On this episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, Commissioner Rachel Laser speaks with Peter Oh, a journalist with Radio Free Asia, and Illyong Ju, Chair of Tong-il Majoong, a nonprofit faith-based organization dedicated to North Korean human rights.

On November 5, 2025, the High Court ruled in favor of the family of missing Pastor Raymond Koh, finding the Malaysian government and police liable for his abduction and enforced disappearance in 2017. While the court’s decision brought comfort to Koh’s family, his whereabouts remain unknown. Similarly, there have been no substantial progress made to the cases of missing Pastor Joshua Hilmy and his wife Ruth Sitepu, as well as Shia activist Amri Che Mat. On this episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, Chair Vicky Hartzler interviews the wife of missing Pastor Raymond Koh, Susanna Liew, and human rights lawyer Andrew Khoo to inquire about justice for victims of religiously-motivated enforced disappearance in Malaysia.

Vietnam’s government strictly regulates and controls religious affairs through state-approved religious organizations. Vietnamese authorities have frequently harassed, detained, arrested, and imprisoned members and advocates of unregistered religious communities that have sought to operate independently of state control. USCIRF’s Victims List documents more than 90 individuals who Vietnamese authorities have detained or imprisoned under national security charges for trying to peacefully practice their faith. On this episode of the USCIRF Spotlight podcast, Commissioner Rachel Laser speaks with Quynh-Vi Tran, of Legal Initiatives for Vietnam, and the Managing Editor of the Vietnamese Magazine, to discuss Vietnam’s legal system as it relates to freedom of religion or belief.

The Chinese government under Xi Jinping placed an estimated one million Uyghurs in concentration camps, subjecting them to forced labor and other horrific abuses. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has also destroyed or modified mosques all as part of a “sinicization” policy to assimilate by force or to eliminate perceived non-CCP influences and ethnic minority communities. U.S. government responses have included sanctions; legislation, such as the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act; and the determination that the CCP is committing “genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang.” On this episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, Chair Vicky Hartzler speaks with Jewher Ilham, a Uyghur advocate, author, and filmmaker, and Adrian Zenz, Senior Fellow and Director in China Studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

For decades, the Lautenberg-Specter program has provided a pathway for members of oppressed religious groups, including Christians, Jews, and Baha’is, with close family ties to the United States to escape persecution in Iran and the former Soviet states. By offering refuge to those fleeing religious persecution, the Lautenberg-Specter program underscores our nation’s leadership in defending religious freedom. On this episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, Chair Vicky Hartzler speaks with Mark Hetfield, President of HIAS, about the Lautenberg-Specter program.

Youth play a crucial role in promoting religious freedom in Africa by advocating for greater religious literacy, inclusivity, and understanding. In East Africa, young people face challenges to religious freedom. The Youth Tolerance Committee (YTC), a non-governmental organization based in Kenya and Tanzania, addresses these challenges head-on across the region, with the fundamental goal that communities and government respect all religions or beliefs and hear every voice.     On today’s episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, Commissioner Steve Schneck speaks with YTC leaders to explore the religious dynamics affecting Kenyans and other East Africans, the vital role youth play in advancing religious freedom, and concrete opportunities for action to address these issues.

In June 2025, USCIRF commissioners traveled to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan to assess religious freedom conditions. During the delegation, USCIRF confirmed that both governments continue to arbitrarily apply a broad and vague legislative framework to target peaceful religious activities of independent Muslims and religious minorities. In its 2025 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S. Department of State place Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan on the Special Watch List for severe violations of religious freedom. On today’s episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, Chair Vicky Hartzler, Vice Chair Asif Mahmood, and Commissioner Mohamed Elsanousi share in more detail findings from their recent travels. Read USCIRF’s Kazakhstan Country Update and Kyrgyzstan Country Update to learn more about USCIRF’s 2025 delegation to Central Asia.

On this episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, Commissioner Stephen Schneck is joined by Mariam Wahba, an Egypt expert and Research Analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Mariam has written extensively on the Egyptian government’s targeting of Egypt’s indigenous Coptic Christian community, and will elaborate on specific laws, policies, and judicial decisions that are repressing a range of other religious minority communities, including Jews, Baha’is, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Qur’anists, nonbelievers and members of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light.

Since 2012, USCIRF has recommended Tajikistan for designation as a Country of Particular Concern for the government’s egregious, ongoing, and systematic violations of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). Among the particularly severe violations of religious freedom occurring in the country, the Tajik government regularly detains and imprisons individuals for their peaceful religious activities based on arbitrary “extremism” charges. FoRB victims largely include independent Muslims who deviate from the state’s preferred interpretation of Hanafi Sunni Islam. Other FoRB victims have included Ismaili Shi’a Muslims. Recently, Muzzafar Davlatmirov, a prominent Pamiri Ismaili Shi’a Muslim cleric who was imprisoned in 2022, died in custody while serving his sentence.  On this episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, Vice Chair Asif Mahmood speaks with Bakh Safarov, founder of Central Asia Consulting, about FoRB Victims in Tajikistan, including the situation of Pamiri Ismaili Shi’a Muslims.

Pakistan’s Ahmadiyya Muslim community continues to be severely and systematically persecuted by the government. The Pakistani government has enacted a series of discriminatory laws and ordinances that restrict Ahmadiyya Muslims’ ability to observe their faith, including identifying as Muslim. In the first half of 2025, spikes in targeted violence against the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Pakistan have contributed to a growing climate of fear. Authorities have increasingly prevented Ahmadiyya Muslims from sacrificing animals during Eid and have conducted “preventative arrests” ahead of the religious holiday.    On today’s episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, USCIRF Commissioner Stephen Schenck speaks with Amjad Khan, a lawyer and spokesperson for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA, on the current situation for Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan. With Contributions from: Veronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Specialist, USCIRF