Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information his Department holds on which countries considers apostasy a crime and what sentence it carries.

The Government's information on issues such as this comes from publicly available sources, such as the US State Department's Annual Report on International Religious Freedom and reporting by NGOs, supplemented by information from our network of Embassies and High Commissions. We maintain no central list of countries that consider apostasy a crime or what penalty is imposed. We formulate our response to the situation in individual countries on a case by case basis, taking into account which course of action is most likely to have a positive effect for individuals and communties in the country concerned.

Freedom of thought, conscience or belief, including the right of the individual to change his or her religion, is a fundamental human right enshrined in international law. We call on Governments that render apostasy a crime to uphold their international obligations on freedom of religion or belief.