US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has come out strongly against laws around the world that make religious defamation a crime and said that freedom of speech and religion should be equally upheld. Presenting a department report on religious freedom Clinton said that some claim that the best way to protect the freedom of religion is to implement so-called 'anti-defamation' policies that would restrict freedom of expression and the freedom of religion. The United States will always stand against discrimination and persecution. But an individual's ability to practice his or her religion has no bearing on others' freedom of speech, Clinton maintained. She told that Iran and North Korea were the countries which put maximum curbs on religious freedom while other countries included Burma, Sudan, Eritrea, China and Uzbekistan.
