WASHINGTON, Oct 7: The United States, in its annual report on religious freedom around the world, found improvements in Afghanistan, Egypt, Laos and parts of southeastern Europe but little change in countries, such as China, where religious worship is most severely restricted.

It criticized state and local government officials in India for failing to protect Muslims from Hindu fundamentalists but did not change India’s status as an offender.

Another category of offenders, countries where the state is hostile toward minority or non-approved religions, also remains unchanged from last year, listing Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The US official responsible for the report said Saudi Arabia could be under consideration for inclusion on the blacklist of “countries of particular concern”, which now includes China, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar, North Korea and Sudan.

The report, issued on Monday by the US State Department, names the same six countries as in 2001 — China, Cuba, Laos, Myanmar, North Korea and Vietnam — as victims of totalitarian or authoritarian attempts to control religious belief or practice.

The State Department prepares the Report on International Religious Freedom to comply with a law passed in 1998.

In coming weeks the Bush administration will pick out “countries of particular concern” and say what economic or diplomatic sanctions it intends to impose on them.—Reuters