WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- The U.S. State Department, in its annual human rights report Monday, criticized practices in ally Saudi Arabia and had harsh words for China.
"The (Saudi) government's human rights record remained poor overall with continuing serious problems, despite some progress," the report said.
Paula Dobriansky, U.S. under secretary of State for Global Affairs, said if democracies can thrive in some Muslim countries there was no reason for it not to flourish in all.
"If freedom and democracy work in Muslim nations like Indonesia, Turkey, Afghanistan and Iraq, why should they not be the norm in Iran, Syria, Libya and Saudi Arabia?" she asked.
In China, the report said, extrajudicial killings, torture, coerced confessions, arbitrary arrest and detention and incommunicado detention were the norm.
"The government's human rights record remained poor, and the government continued to commit numerous and serious abuses," it said.
Cuba, North Korea and Myanmar were also chastised for their human rights record.
Michael Kozak, the acting assistant secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, called the report a policymaking tool for U.S. lawmakers.
"It's not an effort to pass judgment," he said.
