A/HRC/40/58/Add.1 VI. Respect for Freedom of Religion or Belief in Tunisia 43. Freedom of conscience: The government generally respects freedom of religion or belief, but the formal and societal conceptions as to what constitutes this right fall short of international standards. Few explicit restrictions on freedom of religion or belief were reported by various faith-based communities. It is welcome that anti-apostasy laws are nonexistent and people are free to convert from any religion or belief, as far as the law is concerned. Article 57 and 64 of the prison systems code also protects the freedom of persons deprived of their liberty to worship.7 The law prohibits coercion, which would impair the freedom of persons to have or adopt a religion or belief of his or her choice. On this basis, persons are free to choose the belief to which they wish to adhere or may choose to hold no belief at all. However, although conversion to another religion is protected by law, there are societal pressure against the conversion of Muslims to other religious groups. Formerly, Muslims who converted to other religions were subject to social ostracism. 44. Moreover, the ongoing application of laws that have not been aligned to the protections asserted in the 2014 Constitution resulted in violations of the freedom of religion or belief. Proselytising Muslims may incur penalties as an activity contrary to public order. While it was clear that the State does not directly compel persons to observe the rituals of any religion, it appears that public morality concepts can be used to enforce some religious observances in the country. The Special Rapporteur learned that in some cases people had been imprisoned for up to a month for either consuming food or smoking cigarettes in public during the daylight hours of Ramadan. It is unclear whether the law protects these practices for individuals that do not wish to join the wider community in regard to the practice of rituals. The Special Rapporteur would like to assert that the right to freedom of religion or belief includes the right to freedom from religion and that no one can be subject to coercion that would impair the right to adopt a religion or belief of one’s choice. 45. Relations with religious or belief communities: Laws and practices in Tunisia appear to only recognize the Abrahamic religions, whose followers are able to organize and attain legal personality. However, the government appears to supervise the exercise of religious worship for the Muslim community. The 1988 Law on Mosques stipulates that only personnel appointed by the government may lead activities in mosques. As the government appoints and dismisses Imams (clerics) and remunerates them, Imams are effectively civil servants. A mosque may be constructed by a private person or organization, subject to planning approvals, but once completed, these places of worship become the property of the State which also pays for its upkeep. In the immediate years following the 2011 revolution, a number of mosques were overseen by Salafist Imams who opposed the secular traditions of the country and may have sought to instrumentalise Islam for political purposes; but the State has since rendered these mosques under its control. As such, the government suggests themes for the Friday sermons, but does not regulate content. Mosques were also previously required to remain closed except during scheduled times for worship and other authorized religious ceremonies, such as marriages or funerals, but as of January 2018 local committees have been allowed to manage day-to-day affairs, including regulating when mosques will be open to the public. 46. Non-Sunni Muslim groups, such as Ibadis, Shia and Sufis do not enjoy separate institutional autonomy but practice their faith within the institutional arrangements for the Sunni community. Differences amongst these groups remain invisible or minor, a function of the relatively small number of Ibadi and Shia adherents and their assimilation among the Sunni majority. 47. Relations with the Jewish community is based on a 1958 law that protects their freedom of worship. Direct control over synagogues is vested in the Grand Rabbi who is paid a salary by the State. The State also provides security for all synagogues and partially subsidizes their maintenance and restoration costs, and the Jewish students are able to divide their time between attending secular schools and Jewish schools. Community leaders expressed satisfaction with the level of institutional autonomy enjoyed by the Jewish community, highlighting the participation of senior state functionaries in important festivals 7 Law No. 52 dated 14 May 2001 on the prison system. 9