The report specifically names Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a violator of religious freedom. (AP)AP

Religious freedom is in short supply in the Middle East, according to the bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which has issued a report finding Iran chief among the nations where spiritual beliefs can bring prison sentences or worse.

The commission, which reports to President Obama, named several nations including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, North Korea and China. But it singled out Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the theocratic states Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for their harsh crackdown on non-Islamic religions.

Since becoming president, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for an end to the development of Christianity in Iran, noted the report in its section on the Iranian regimes gutting of Christian freedoms.

The report took 15 countries to task over their particularly severe violations of religious freedom, which the commission defined as systematic, ongoing, and egregious acts of torture, prolonged detention without charges, disappearances, or other flagrant denial[s] of the right to life, liberty or the security of persons. The exhaustive, 364-page report covered the period January 31, 2012 January 31, 2013.

- U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom

"The government of Iran's increased persecution of religious minorities should raise alarm around the world, Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., told FoxNews.com. "I urge the administration to designate key Iranian officials as human right abusers -- starting with the judge who put American citizen and Pastor Saeed Abedini in prison for practicing his faith."

The commissions report cited the shocking case of U.S-Iranian pastor Abedini, who was sentenced in a January trial without due process to eight years in prison for threatening the national security of Iran for his activity in the Christian house church movement.

Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice, hailed the commissions decision to highlight the plight of Abedini in its report.

As the 2013 Iranian presidential election quickly approaches, many in the religious minority communities brace themselves for the worst, said Sekulow, whose organization represents Abedinis Idaho-based family.Meanwhile, Pastor Saeed currently suffers in solitary confinement in Evin prison -- a place in which he said a single day passes like a 100 days. While we are grateful for the Commission's report and mention of Pastor Saeed, to see real change in Iran, countries around the global music raise a chorus of voices against these abuses."

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Iran a top persecutor in religious freedom report- OPINION: Mass exodus of Christians is underway