KUWAIT CITY, Sept 13, (Agencies): The Kuwait government is alleged to have placed some limits on the rights of free religious practice and religious minorities are said to have experience some discrimination as a results of government policies, according to the 2010 International Religious Freedom Report issued by the US State Department Tuesday.

The report which said that religious persecution had worsened in Afghanistan and China, added that there was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom by the Kuwait government during the reporting period (2010).

“Law prohibit blasphemy, apostasy, and proselytizing. In practice, groups other than state-sanctioned Sunni Muslims find it extremely difficult to obtain property for places of worship, said the report.

“There were few reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice,” added the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor which compiled the report.

The report also criticized Pakistan for failing to reform a blasphemy law used to persecute religious minorities and in some cases Muslims who promote tolerance. It said military-dominated Myanmar still holds hundreds of Buddhist monks imprisoned following a 2007 crackdown on prodemocracy demonstrations.

The report, which is required by Congress, covers the second half of 2010. Among other Asian governments which come in for criticism are communist Vietnam and Laos.

The US said in China, proselytizing in public or unregistered places of worship is not permitted, and some religious and spiritual groups are outlawed. Chinese Communist Party members are discouraged from participating in religious activities.

In the far west, the report said, Uighur Muslims faced restrictions on private hajj pilgrimages and the wearing of Muslim headscarves in some areas. Tibetan Buddhist religious leaders also reported increased discrimination. They are are not free to openly venerate their exiled leader the Dalai Lama and encounter severe government interference in religious practice.

In Afghanistan, the report said, the government has failed to protect Christian converts, while minority Hindus, Sikhs and Bahais also face persecution. Together, they constitute about 1 percent of the population in the conservative Muslim nation.

The report said May 2010 video footage of Christian converts being baptized aired repeatedly on an Afghan television station and drew inflammatory public statements by two lawmakers. These incidents led to targeting of Christian groups and individuals.

The government in Indonesia — the country with the world’s largest Muslim population — generally respected religious freedom, according to the report, but in some instances failed to protect persons from religious discrimination and abuse.