E/CN.4/1992/52 page 81 Saudi Arabia 65. In a communication sent on 1 November 1991 addressed to the Government of Saudi Arabia, the following information was transmitted by the Special Rapporteur: "According to the information received, there are significant restrictions on the freedom of religion, given the fact that Islam is the only official religion to which all citizens must belong. The death penalty is prescribed for apostasy. It has been reported that the death penalty is prescribed for apostasy and that during the holy month of Ramadan, the prohibition against public eating, drinking or smoking during daylight hours is enforced on non-Muslims as well as Muslims. Criticism of Islam is said not to be allowed and nothing embarrassing to the religious leadership can reportedly be published in the press. References to religions other than Islam on radio and television are allegedly removed. Non-Muslim religious activities and the importation of non-Islamic religious material such as Christmas cards and Christmas trees is reportedly also illegal. Foreigners are said to be allowed to practise their religion only in strict privacy and may face imprisonment and expulsion if they proselytize or attempt to arrange large religious gatherings. Persons wearing non-Islamic religious symbols in public may be arrested or publicly harassed by the members of the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the Mutawwi'in). It has further been reported that any practice which is not in accordance with the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam is prohibited, as is the case with the use of the Shia call to prayer and other forms of public Shia practice which deviate from the practice of Sunni Islam. Public processions during the holy month of Muharram are prohibited while Shia public celebrations are restricted to specially designated areas within the principal Shia cities. It has been reported that the private construction of Shia mosques is seldom permitted. Members of the Shia Muslim community, estimated to number approximately 500,000, are allegedly subjected to officially sanctioned forms of economic and social discrimination as well as surveillance and restrictions on travel abroad. According to the sources, Saudi Shia Muslim citizens face discrimination in government and industrial employment, especially in jobs with national security implications and it has been reported that the national petroleum company which used to employ large numbers of Saudi Shia Muslims has been instructed to halt their employment and phase out the Shias from positions of responsibility. They are said to also face certain limitations with regard to access to social services. It has also been alleged that over 40 Shia activists are imprisoned in Riyadh on charges of radical Shiite activities. It has been reported that members of the Shia community can adjudicate only non-criminal intra-Shiite disputes within their own legal tradition." 66. In a communication sent on 1 November 1991 addressed to the Government of Sudan, the following information was transmitted by the Special Rapporteur: "According to the information received, article 126 of the new Criminal Code of Sudan which was published in the official gazette on 20 February 1991 stipulates that apostasy from Islam is a crime entailing the death sentence.