US Criticizes Saudi Arabia and Bahrain for Lack of Religious Freedom

US criticizes Saudi Arabia and Bahrain for lack of religious freedom. US President Donald Trump's administration says the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant group remains the biggest threat to religious freedom around the world. The US State Department says the murders of Yazidis, Christians and Shia Muslims at the hands of ISIL amounted to genocide.

The annual report says almost 80 percent of the world's population continues to live under threats limiting freedom to worship.

The countries criticised include US allies Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Al Jazeera's Mohammad Vall reports.

‘I'd Rather Sacrifice My Life’: Yazidi Women Taking Revenge on ISIS

Yazidi women who have to put up with numerous atrocities from Islamic State are hitting back at their tormentors. They have set up an all-female battalion to take the fight to the militant jihadists and gain revenge for forcing their sisters into sexual slavery and beheading their brothers

Islamic State: Militants 'Kill 300 Yazidi Captives'

BBC AMERICA: Several hundred Yazidi captives have been killed in Iraq by Islamic State (IS) militants west of Mosul, Yazidi and Iraqi officials say.

A statement from the Yazidi Progress Party said 300 captives were killed on Friday in the Tal Afar district near the city.

Iraqi Vice-President Osama al-Nujaifi described the reported deaths as "horrific and barbaric".

Thousands of members of the religious minority group were captured last year.

It is not clear how they were killed, or why this has happened now, says the BBC's Middle East editor Alan Johnston.

Many are reported to have been held in Mosul, the main stronghold of IS after the militants swept through large areas of northern and western Iraq, and eastern Syria in 2014.

Yazidis, whose religion includes elements of several faiths, are considered infidels by IS. (+ BBC video) » | Saturday, May 02, 2015