According to a study by
Humanists International (HI),
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
is one of the seven countries in the world (the other six being Iran, the Maldives, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Sudan) where being an
atheist or a convert can lead to a
death sentence
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...
.
According to the 2012 WIN-Gallup Global Index of Religion and Atheism report, Afghanistan ranks among the countries where people are least likely to admit to being an atheist.
Apostasy persecuted by Muslims
Apostasy
Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that ...
is a crime under the
sharia of Afghanistan,
BBC News, "Afghanistan treads religious tightrope"
quote: "Others point out that no one has been executed for apostasy in Afghanistan even under the Taleban ... two Afghan editors accused of blasphemy both faced the death sentence, but one claimed asylum abroad and the other was freed after a short spell in jail." apostates are not seen kindly. Apostates, including atheists, are considered safe if they were brought up as Muslim and do not make their beliefs public. Apostates are usually disowned by their families. Apostasy and conversion to atheism carry death sentences in Afghanistan's Islamic legal system. Mob lynchings have also been known to happen.
Asylums
In January 2014, an Afghan man living in the UK since 2007 was granted asylum
Asylum may refer to:
Types of asylum
* Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome
* Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute
* Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea
...
under the 1951 Refugee Convention
The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, also known as the 1951 Refugee Convention or the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951, is a United Nations multilateral treaty that defines who a refugee is, and sets out the rights of individuals ...
. The man's legal team argued that he may face a death sentence if he returned. He had come to the UK with his family when he was 16, and had become an atheist while living there.
See also
* Persecution of atheists in Islamic countries
* Religion in Afghanistan
Afghanistan is an Islamic state, in which most citizens follow Islam. As much as 90% of the population follows Sunni Islam. According to ''The World Factbook'', Sunni Muslims constitute between 84.7 - 89.7% of the population, and Shia Muslim ...
* Freedom of religion in Afghanistan
Freedom of religion in Afghanistan changed during the Islamic Republic installed in 2002 following a U.S.-led invasion that displaced the former Taliban government. The initial three articles of the Constitution of Afghanistan dated January 23, ...
* Christianity in Afghanistan
* Islam in Afghanistan
Islam in Afghanistan began to be practiced after the Arab Islamic conquest of Afghanistan from the 7th to the 10th centuries, with the last holdouts to conversion submitting in the late 19th century. It was generally accepted by local communitie ...
* Demographics of Afghanistan
The population of Afghanistan is around 40 million as of 2021. The nation is composed of a multi-ethnic and multilingual society, reflecting its location astride historic trade and invasion routes between Central Asia, South Asia, and Western ...
* Pashtunistan
Pashtunistan ( ps, پښتونستان, lit=land of the Pashtuns) is a historical region in Central Asia and South Asia, inhabited by the indigenous Pashtun people of Afghanistan and western Pakistan. Wherein Pashtun culture, the Pashto language, ...
References
{{Asia topic, Irreligion in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
Religion in Afghanistan