WASHINGTON, The United States: The US State Department annual report on religious freedom around the world noted progress toward religious freedom in Saudi Arabia.

"While overall government policies continue to place severe restrictions on religious freedom, there were some improvement in specific areas during the period covered by this report," it said.

However Washington, which defines freedom of religion as the ability to practice any religion publicly, it is ready make an exception for Saudi Arabia, said the State Department official who keeps tabs on the issue, John Hanford.

"I'm not sure that the security situation right now -- even if there were people who favored allowing minority faiths to build places of worship, I'm not sure that would be a good idea at this point, frankly," he added.

The annual report mentions discrimination against non-Muslims, or against Muslims with practices different from Saudi Arabia's conservative sect.

"Non-Muslims and Muslims who do not adhere to the government's interpretation of Islam continued to face significant political, economic, legal, social, and religious discrimination," the report reads.       

Anti-terrorism protest held in front of Saudi embassy in US WASHINGTON, United States: A demonstration was staged in front of Saudi embassy in Washington to protest against Saudi terrorism and evil fatawa.