ISKCON leader arrest issue discussed in US press briefing

The issue of the arrest of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) leader Chinmoy Krishna Das in Bangladesh has been discussed in US State Department’s press briefing.

Vedant Patel, the Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the United States Department of State briefed reporters in this regard on Tuesday (December 3).

He said, we are consistent with every government in which we have a relationship with – we are clear that there needs to be the respect of fundamental freedoms; there needs to be respect of religious freedom and basic human rights. Any kind of protests should be and need to be peaceful, and that any kind of crackdown – not even crackdown – that governments need to respect the rule of law, they need to respect basic human rights as part of that. And that’s something we’ll continue to emphasize.

In reply to another question, he said, we’ve been engaged on this issue not just with Israel but other important regional partners as well, including, of course, the United Nations. It is a serious area of concern, and it’s an area of concern where we continue to want to see more happen and more diligence given, not just, of course, from Israel’s perspective but also from the United Nations as well.