Nepal Plans New Criminal Code Forbidding Evangelism
June 7, 2011 by admin
Filed under Asia, Nepal, Persecution
KATHMANDU, NEPAL (Worthy News)–After abolishing Hinduism as its state religion, Nepal is now proposing a new criminal code forbidding a person from one faith to “convert a person, or abet him to change his religion.”
Article 160 of this proposal would also prohibit conversion “by offering inducements, or without inducement”.
Convicted offenders could be imprisoned for a maximum of five years and fined up to 50,000 Nepalese rupees; if a foreigner, the offender would also be deported within one week of completing his/her sentence.
Nepal’s Interim Constitution prohibits proselytizing even though Nepal already signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; Article 18 of the ICCPR guarantees the right to express one’s religion, which U.N. officials interpret as the right to evangelize.