Tunisia
(2001)
Islam is the state religion. The Constitution
provides for the free exercise of other religions that do
not disturb the public order, and the Government generally
observes and enforces this right; however, there were some
restrictions and abuses.
There was no change in the status of respect
for religious freedom during the period covered by this report.
The Government does not permit the establishment of political
parties on the basis of Islam, prohibits proselytizing, and
partially limits the religious freedom of Baha'is.
The generally amicable relationship among
religions in society contributed to religious freedom.
The U.S. Government discusses religious
freedom issues with the Government in the context of its
overall dialog and policy of promoting human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country's land area is 63,170 square
miles and the vast majority of its population of 9.2 million
is nominally Muslim. There is no reliable data on the number
of practicing Muslims. There is a small indigenous Sufi Muslim
community but no statistics regarding its size. Reliable
sources report that many Sufis left the country shortly after
independence when their religious buildings and land reverted
to the Government (as did those of Orthodox Islamic foundations),
leaving them no place to worship. Although the Sufi community
is small, its tradition of mysticism permeates the practice
of Islam throughout the country. During annual Ramadan festivals,
Sufis provide public cultural entertainment with whirling
dervish dances.
The nominal Christian community--composed
of foreign temporary and permanent residents and a small
group of native-born citizens of both European and Arab origin--numbers
approximately 20,000 and is dispersed throughout the country.
According to church leaders, the practicing Christian population
numbers approximately 2,000 and includes an estimated 200
native-born ethnic Arab citizens who have converted to Christianity.
The Catholic Church operates 5 churches, 14 private schools,
and 7 cultural centers throughout the country, as well as
1 hospital in Tunis, the capital. It has approximately 1,400
practicing members, composed of temporary and permanent foreign
residents and a small number of native-born citizens of European
and Arab origin. In addition to holding religious services,
the Catholic Church also freely organizes cultural activities
and performs charitable work throughout the country. The
Russian Orthodox Church has 100 practicing members and operates
two churches--one in Tunis and one in Bizerte. The French
Reform Church operates one church in Tunis, with a congregation
of 140 primarily foreign members. The Anglican Church has
approximately 50 foreign members who worship in a church
in Tunis. The 30-member Greek Orthodox Church maintains one
church each in Tunis, Sousse, and Jerba. A community of 43
Jehovah's Witnesses, of which about half are foreign residents
and half are native-born citizens, also exists.
With 1,800 adherents split nearly equally
between the capital and the island of Jerba, the Jewish community
is the country's largest indigenous religious minority. The
Jewish community on the island of Jerba dates back 2,500
years. There are also 150 members of the Baha'i Faith.
There is no information available regarding
the number of atheists in the country.
Foreign missionary organizations and groups
do not operate in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
Islam is the state religion. The Constitution
provides for the free exercise of other religions that do
not disturb the public order, and the Government generally
observes and enforces this right; however, it does not permit
the establishment of political parties based on religion,
prohibits proselytizing, and partially limits the religious
freedom of Baha'is. The Constitution stipulates that the
President of the Republic must be a Muslim.
The Government recognizes all Christian
and Jewish religious organizations that were established
before independence in 1956. Although the Government permits
Christian churches to operate freely, only the Catholic Church
has formal recognition from the postindependence Government.
The other churches operate under land grants signed by the
Bey of Tunis in the 18th and 19th centuries, which are respected
by the Government. During the period covered by this report,
the Government refused recognition of a Jewish religious
organization in Jerba; however, the group has been permitted
to operate, and it performs religious activities and charity
work unhindered.
The Muslim holidays of Aid El-Kebir, Ras
Al-Am El-Hejri, Mouled, and Aid Essighir are observed as
national holidays; there is no reported adverse effect on
other religious groups related to such observance.
The Government promotes interfaith understanding
by sponsoring regular conferences and seminars on religious
tolerance and by facilitating and promoting the annual Jewish
pilgrimage to the El-Ghriba Synagogue.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The Government controls and subsidizes
mosques and pays the salaries of prayer leaders. The President
appoints the Grand Mufti of the Republic. The 1988 Law on
Mosques provides that only personnel appointed by the Government
may lead activities in mosques, and stipulates that mosques
must remain closed except during prayer times and other authorized
religious ceremonies, such as marriages or funerals. New
mosques may be built in accordance with national urban planning
regulations but become the property of the State. The Government
also partially subsidizes the Jewish community.
The Government does not permit the establishment
of political parties on the basis of religion, and uses this
prohibition to refuse recognition of the An-Nahda party and
to prosecute suspected party members on the grounds of membership
in an illegal organization. The Government maintains tight
surveillance over Islamists and members of the Islamic fundamentalist
community. The Government has revoked the identity cards
of an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Islamists and fundamentalists,
which prevents them from being employed legally, attending
court hearings, or using public telephones or faxes. According
to reliable sources, the Government has refused to issue
passports to Islamists and fundamentalists. The Government
forbids the wearing of hijab (traditional headscarves worn
by Islamist and Islamic fundamentalist women) in government
offices.
The Government allows the Jewish community
freedom of worship and pays the salary of the Grand Rabbi.
It also partially subsidizes restoration and maintenance
costs for some synagogues. In October 1999, the provisional
Jewish community elected a new board of directors, its first
since independence in 1956, but continues to await approval
from the governor of Tunis. Once approval is obtained from
the governor, which originally was expected to be only a
formality, the committee is expected to receive permanent
status. The acting board has changed its name to the Jewish
Committee of Tunisia. The Government permits the Jewish community
to operate private religious schools and allows Jewish children
on the island of Jerba to split their academic day between
secular public schools and private religious schools. The
Government also encourages Jewish émigrés to
return for the annual Jewish pilgrimage to the historic El-Ghriba
Synagogue on the island of Jerba. However, during the period
covered by this report, the Government refused recognition
of a Jewish religious organization in Jerba, although the
group has been permitted to operate and perform religious
activities and charity work unhindered.
The Government regards the Baha'i Faith
as a heretical sect of Islam and permits its adherents to
practice their faith only in private. Although the Government
permits Baha'is to hold meetings of their National Council
in private homes, it reportedly has prohibited them from
organizing local councils. The Government reportedly pressures
Baha'is to eschew organized religious activities. There are
credible reports that police periodically call in prominent
Baha'is for questioning. The Government also unofficially
denied Baha'i requests during the period covered by this
report for permission to elect local assemblies. The Government
also does not permit Baha'is to accept a declaration of faith
from persons who wish to convert to the Baha'i Faith. There
were credible reports that four members of the Baha'i Faith
were interrogated by Ministry of Interior officials in 1999
and pressed to sign a statement that they would not practice
their religion and would not hold meetings in their homes.
In general the Government does not permit
Christian groups to establish new churches, and proselytizing
is viewed as an act against the public order. Foreign missionary
organizations and groups do not operate in the country. Authorities
ask foreigners suspected of proselytizing to depart the country
and do not permit them to return. There were no reported
cases of official action against persons suspected of proselytizing
during the period covered by this report; however, there
were reports that materials distributed by Christian missionaries
in Sfax were confiscated from local secondary students.
There were reports of cases during the
period covered by this report in which the Government punished
individuals who converted to another faith from Islam by
denying them the ability to obtain a passport, to vote, and
to enlist in the military, among other rights.
Islamic religious education is mandatory
in public schools, but the religious curriculum for secondary
school students also includes the history of Judaism and
Christianity. The Zeitouna Koranic School is part of the
Government's national university system.
Both religious and secular nongovernmental
organizations (NGO's) are governed by the same law and administrative
regulations on association that impose some restrictions
on freedom of assembly. For example, all NGO's are required
to notify the Government of meetings to be held in public
spaces at least 3 days in advance and to submit lists of
all meeting participants to the Ministry of Interior. During
the period covered by this report, there were credible reports
that two Christian religious organizations did not attempt
to register because they believed that their applications
would be rejected, although they were able to function freely
under the auspices of their respective churches. Neither
group believed that it was a victim of religious discrimination.
A third group, composed of foreign Christians mostly from
Sweden and the United Kingdom, is active in providing medical
and social services in the city of Kasserine in the west.
Despite its ambiguous legal status, this group (with 15 to
20 members) reports that it has been free to pursue its social
and medical work without interference and states that it
does not believe that it has been subject to religious discrimination.
Religious groups are subjected to the same
restrictions on freedom of speech and the press as secular
groups. Primary among these restrictions is "depot legal,"
the requirement that printers and publishers provide copies
of all publications to the Chief Prosecutor, the Ministry
of Interior, and the Ministry of Culture prior to publication.
Similarly, distributors must deposit copies of publications
printed abroad with the Chief Prosecutor and various ministries
prior to their public release. Although Christian groups
reported that they were able to distribute previously approved
religious publications in European languages without difficulty,
they claimed that the Government generally did not approve
either publication or distribution of Arabic-language Christian
material. Moreover, authorized distribution of religious
publications was limited to existing religious communities,
because the Government views public distribution of both
religious and secular documents as a threat to the public
order and hence an illegal act.
Muslim women are not permitted to marry
outside their religion. Marriages of Muslim women to non-Muslim
men abroad are considered common-law, which are prohibited
and thus void when the couple returns to the country. Non-Muslim
women who marry Muslim men are not permitted to inherit from
their husbands, nor may the husbands and any children (who
are considered to be Muslim) from the marriage inherit from
the non-Muslim wife.
Although civil law is codified, judges
are known to override codified law with their interpretation
of Shari'a (Islamic law) if codified law contradicts it.
For example, codified laws provide women with the legal right
to have custody over minor children; however, judges have
refused to grant women permission to leave the country with
minor children, holding that Shari'a appoints the father
as the head of the family who must grant children permission
to travel. In 1999 one human rights activist reported that
Ministry of Interior officials refused to issue her minor
son a passport because the child's father, who was then jailed,
was not present to give permission.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
During the period covered by this report,
credible sources estimate as many as 1,000 persons were serving
prison sentences because of their membership in the illegal
Islamist group An-Nadha or for their alleged Islamist sympathies;
however, there were no reports of cases in which it was clear
that persons were arrested or detained based solely on their
religious beliefs.
During the period covered by this report,
the Government tried and convicted numerous suspected members
of the Islamist community on charges of belonging to an illegal
organization. For example, Mehdi Zoughah was convicted in
February 2001 of belonging to an illegal organization for
purportedly holding a meeting with An-Nahda leader Salah
Kerker in Marseille, France, in the early 1990s. Zoughah
was convicted on the basis of a single witness whom the Government
could not produce in court. Haroun M'barak was convicted
in March 2001 of belonging to an illegal organization, An-Nahda,
on the basis of a statement by a witness that had been retracted.
On August 30, 2000, An-Nahda prisoner Taoufik Chaieb was
released from jail after he held a 51-day hunger strike.
Presiding judges in trials of Islamists routinely refuse
to investigate claims by defendants that their confessions
were extracted under torture.
Sources report that police awaken suspected
Islamists in the night and bring them to police headquarters
for interrogation. Human rights activists allege that the
Government subjected the family members of Islamist activists
to arbitrary arrest, reportedly utilizing charges of "association
with criminal elements" to punish family members for
the actions of the activists.
According to human rights lawyers, the
Government regularly questioned Muslims who were observed
praying frequently in mosques. Reliable sources report that
the authorities instruct imams to espouse government social
and economic programs during prayer times in Mosques.
Forced Religious Conversion
There were no reports of forced religious
conversion, including of minor U.S. citizens who have been
abducted or illegally removed from the United States, or
of the Government's refusal to allow such citizens to be
returned to the United States.
Section III. Societal Attitudes
The generally amicable relationship among
religions in society contributed to religious freedom.
There were no incidents of religiously
motivated violence. However, there is great societal pressure
for Muslims not to convert to other religions, and conversion
from Islam is relatively rare. Muslims who do convert may
face social ostracism for converting. There is some conversion
among individuals in the Christian and Jewish communities.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Embassy maintains good relations
with leaders of majority and minority religious groups throughout
the country, and the Ambassador and other embassy officials
met regularly with Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and Baha'i
religious leaders throughout the period covered by this report.
Embassy officials discussed religious freedom issues with
government officials on various occasions during the year.
Sources: U.S. State Department - Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor |