A report by Pew Research Center has found that as of 2012, about one in ten nations in the world have legal punishments for apostasy, or the leaving of one's faith.
Released Wednesday and authored by Angelina Theodorou, the report found that 11 percent of countries and territories had apostasy laws and 22 percent had blasphemy laws.
"Apostasy and blasphemy may seem to many like artifacts of history. But in dozens of countries around the world, laws against apostasy and blasphemy remain even today," wrote Theodorou.
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"We found that laws restricting apostasy and blasphemy are most common in the Middle East and North Africa, where 14 of the 20 countries (70%) criminalize blasphemy and 12 of the 20 countries (60%) criminalize apostasy."
Most of the nations listed as still having apostasy laws were majority Muslim and included Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Egypt, Yemen, Oman, Malaysia, and the Maldives.
Nigeria, a nation that is nearly equally split between Muslim and Christian, was also listed as having legal proscriptions against apostasy. Keep reading
See also
Which countries still outlaw apostasy and blasphemy?
Sudan woman Meriam Ibrahim's new baby daughter photos emerge, brings joy despite looming death sentence
Woman in Sudan sentenced to death for apostasy forced to give birth ‘with her legs chained’
Sudanese Christian Mother Facing Death for Faith Gave Birth in Chains; See Beautiful Daughter, Maya, That Came From Pain
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