Apostasy : An Overview - The Maranatha Community

APPENDIX 1
Countries in which Apostasy or Blasphemy issues occur
This is a partial list of countries in which serious infringements of religious freedom and grave human rights violations
occur, primarily due to apostasy punishment. The individual cases listed below are however not exhaustive.
These infringements and violations may occur as an outcome of official apostasy, or in some cases blasphemy laws; or
because in many predominantly Muslim countries, some Muslims take the law into their own hands, and attack or even
kill those they accuse of apostasy or blasphemy.
There appears to be little attempt by the governments of these countries either to prevent these human rights violations
in the first place, or to prosecute the perpetrators. There is normally only very light punishment for the perpetrators on
the rare occasions when they are convicted.
AFGHANISTAN
• Abdul Rahman, an Afghan man, faced the death penalty for converting to Christianity 16 years earlier. He was charged with
rejecting Islam and faced execution under Islamic Sharia law unless he became a Muslim again. Following intense international
pressure, the country’s Supreme Court suspended charges of apostasy against him, citing evidence from relatives that he was
mentally ill, and he was granted asylum in Italy. 24 However, during the court case, thousands of young people descended on
Kabul, demanding that he be hanged. Engineer Ahmad Shah, a prominent mujahideen leader, stated that “ there is unanimous
agreement by all religious scholars that Abdul Rahman should be executed”. As the trial was going on, senior clerics in
Afghanistan had already given their verdict: he should die. “We will not allow God to be humiliated,” Abdul Raoulf, a member of
the Ulama Council, Afghanistan’s main clerical organization, stated. “We will call on the people to pull him into pieces so there’s
nothing left.” 25
• The Taliban have shut down the offices of two Christian aid agencies. The decision to close the offices follows an investigation
into eight Western Christian and sixteen Afghan staff members of another aid agency, Shelter Now International, who are being
held under suspicion of trying to convert Muslims to Christianity. They are to be tried according to Islamic Sharia law. If any of
the Afghans are found guilty, or if they themselves are discovered to be converts, they will face a death sentence. Their
relatives have nevertheless declared that if any are found to be converts they will kill them themselves. “If my brother has
changed religion I would kill him first,” said one. 26
• Ali Mohaqeq Nasab, editor of the Afghan magazine Haqooq-i-Zan (Women’s Rights) published articles questioning, “Islamic”
punishments, including the death penalty for heresy. He was charged with blasphemy in October 2005 and was sentenced to
two years in prison. Prosecutors continued to demand the death penalty up until the time he was released under international
pressure. 27
ALGERIA
• The Algerian Parliament approved a previous Presidential Order which severely restricts religious freedom in the country.
Anyone found guilty of shaking “the faith of a Muslim” or possessing material that promotes Christianity to Muslims will receive a
jail sentence of up to five years and a fine of up to $12,000. Non-Muslim organizations that disobey the law can be heavily fined,
banned or dissolved; their assets will be confiscated. Foreigners convicted under the law will be expelled from the country after
serving their prison term. House fellowships and informal gatherings of Christians will be illegal. The law states that: “Collective
exercise of religious worship takes place exclusively in structures intended for this purpose, open to the public and identifiable
from the exterior.” 28
BANGLADESH
• There have been attacks on religious minorities, including Hindus and the Ahmadiyya community, since the BNP government
came into power in October 2001. Some of these have been attributed to what is deemed to be apostasy.
• Towards the end of 2003, anti-Ahmadiyya groups grew more vociferous, demanding that the Ahmadiyyas be declared non-
Muslim, and attacking Ahmadiyya mosques. Amnesty International has criticised the Bangladeshi government for not taking
action against the hate campaign and for the January 2004 banning of Ahmadiyya publications. The police have recently proved
more effective at preventing some of the threatened sieges to mosques, but attacks continue to take place. 29
• Village leaders continue to issue declarations and claim them to be fatwas, often resulting in extra-judicial punishments of
women for their perceived moral transgressions. Religious minorities remain underrepresented in most government jobs,
especially at the higher levels of the civil and foreign services. Some foreign missionaries reported that internal security forces
closely monitored their activities. 30
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