Blasphemy and apostasy laws were most common in 2019 in the Middle East and North Africa, where 18 of the 20 countries (90%) in the region have laws criminalizing blasphemy and 13 of them (65%) outlaw apostasy. https://t.co/0RA40Zpv21 pic.twitter.com/q9M5AQSeWm

— Pew Research Religion (@PewReligion) January 25, 2022

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Four-in-ten countries and territories worldwide had blasphemy laws in 2019

Apostasy and blasphemy may seem to many like artifacts of history. But in scores of countries around the world, laws against apostasy and blasphemy remain on the books – and many are enforced to various degrees.

A new Pew Research Center analysis finds that 79 countries and territories out of the 198 studied around the world (40%) had laws or policies in 2019 banning blasphemy, which is defined as speech or actions considered to be contemptuous of God or of people or objects considered sacred. Twenty-two countries (11%) had laws against apostasy, the act of abandoning one’s faith.

There is no divinely ordained punishment for blasphemy in Islam & neither did Prophet Muhammad Peace Be Upon Him ordain any such punishment. https://t.co/yMz3c4xZZp #SaveAneeqa pic.twitter.com/9apqqkf5iK

— Hamza Ali Abbasi (@iamhamzaabbasi) January 25, 2022

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