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to manifest religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and
education, individually or in community with, or in public or alone.
No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom
to condemn a religion, or his freedom to profess any religion or belief
of his choice. Human freedom shall not be subject to manifest
religion or belief, but the restrictions imposed by law which are
necessary to protect public safety or public order or public health or
morals or the rights of others and their fundamental freedoms. The
States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to respect the
liberty of parents or guardians when they are present, in securing the
education of their children a religious and moral according to their
own convictions.”
Under Article (27) of the ICCPR it is stipulated that
"In those States in which there are ethnic minorities, any racial,
religious or linguistic, persons belonging to such minorities shall
enjoy the right to their own culture, to profess and practice their own
rituals or to use their language, together with other members of
their group."
This right also asserts the Palestinian Basic Law, as stated in Article (18) that
"freedom of belief and worship and religious practice is guaranteed provided you
do not disturb public order or public morals."
During the year 2010, ICHR recorded an unprecedented violation of the right to
religion and belief in the West Bank when the Sharia Court broke up a couple
under the pretext of apostasy. The case is summarized as follows: Mohammad
Reda ‘Alawneh from the city of Nablus, and his wife Samah Mahmoud Abdul Jalil,
who had their marriage contract on 18/3/2010, duly and legally at the hands of
the marriage official, registered with the Sharia Court in ‘Atil and carries the
number (0039215). He was surprised at the dissolution of the marriage contract
of apostasy held against them by the Prosecutor of the Personal Status in
northern West Bank, and in the name of a legitimate public right. The Sharia
Court of ‘Atil issued a decision to separate them from each other under the
pretext that the community to which they belong, the group Al‐Ahmadiya, is not
well accepted, although they are a Muslim couple living in peace, and neither of
them want to be separated from each other. The case of the Prosecutor of the
Personal Status in the name of the legitimate public right came without legal
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