WASHINGTON - The United States on Monday rebuked Saudi Arabia and other Middle East allies for their human rights records in an early test of President George W. Bush's vow to root out tyranny among friend and foe.
The criticism was contained in the State Department's report on human rights progress in 2004, the first issued since Bush made a global drive for democracy a cornerstone of his second term in office.
The annual report echoed familiar US criticism of states such as Iran, Syria and Yemen, chided Israel more mildly over its dealings with the Palestinians and blamed most of Iraq's problems on its insurgency.
But the document also reserved some tough language for Saudi Arabia, a long-time ally of the United States as an oil supplier and strategically important partner in the war on terror.
It mentioned some Saudi gains such as a conference on women's rights and creation of the first formal human rights group but said, "the record of human rights abuses and violations ... still far exceeds the advances."
"There were credible reports of torture and abuse of prisoners by security forces, arbitrary arrests, and incommunicado detentions. The religious police continued to intimidate, abuse, and detain citizens and foreigners."
It said most trials were closed, reformers were detained, Saudi women and minorities discriminated against and "the government continued to restrict freedoms of speech and press, assembly, association and movement."
The United States also took aim at Egypt at a time when tensions between the two countries were starting to boil over Cairo's detention of opposition leader Ayman Nur.
"The government respected human rights in some areas; however, its record was poor, and in many areas serious problems remained," the report said.
It identified corruption as a significant problem, criticized the use of emergency law to try non-security cases, and said security forces "committed numerous, serious human rights abuses."
The report said Egyptians "did not have the meaningful ability to change their government" but it was drafted before the weekend move by President Hosni Mubarak to seek direct, multi-party presidential elections.
The department said the government in Jordan respected human rights in some areas but "its overall record continued to reflect many problems."
It cited "police abuse and mistreatment of detainees, allegations of torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, lack of transparent investigations and of accountability within the security services."
Kuwait and Qatar, crucial allies to the United States in the Iraq war, were not spared. The report called Kuwait's human rights record "poor" with reported abuses of prisoners, and said Qatar restricted speech and press freedoms.
Iran and Syria took the heaviest lashing in the region. The report said Tehran's rights performance had worsened, with continuing violations such as summary executions, disappearances and torture.
Damascus was also accused of clamping down on dissent, resorting to arbitrary arrests, prolonged detention without trial, torture and a pattern of discrimination against women and a stateless Kurdish minority.
Despite Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's effort to turn a new leaf and renounce weapons of mass destruction, the report accused Tripoli of "numerous, serious abuses." It said the rights scorecard in Yemen was still "poor."
The State Department had some moderate rebukes for Israel's treatment of Palestinian prisoners and said the Jewish state had done little to curb discrimination against the country's Arab citizens.
It said the government had detained thousands of people without charge on security grounds and recounted without judgment the dispute over Israel's move to erect a security barrier along the West Bank.
On the other hand, the report described the Palestinian Authority's overall rights record as "poor," marked by credible reports of torture, prisoner abuse, and arbitrary and prolonged detention.
The report said the US-backed government in Iraq had generally respected human rights and reversed a legacy of abuse under the ousted Saddam Hussein.
It said "serious problems" remained but added Baghdad's efforts were "handicapped by a serious insurgency in which a terrorist campaign of violence impacted every aspect of life."
Paula Dobriansky, undersecretary of state for global affairs, told reporters after the report was released that people throughout the Middle East were increasingly aware of the "freedom deficit" in the region.
"If freedom and democracy work in Muslim nations like Indonesia, Turkey, Afghanistan and Iraq, why should they not be the norm in Iran, Libya, Syria and Saudi Arabia?"

02/28/2005 17:20 GMT