Tunisia

For this reporting period, we received more information about the church in Tunisia. Due to openness to the Gospel and an increasing response to Christian media, the number of Christians is growing. President Ben Ali was re-elected for a fifth term with 89 percent of the vote in October 2009. But repressive acts and tight controls until presidential elections negatively influenced the situation for Christians and churches in the country. Authorities and police checked on all sorts of things, especially anything they saw as a danger to the stability of the country (e.g. radical Islamists and Muslim converts to Christianity). A number of Christians were questioned and some were beaten by the police. The local church cannot freely operate; it is limited in distributing literature and very restricted in outreach.

The constitution provides for freedom of religion but stipulates the country's determination to adhere to the teachings of Islam. Efforts to proselytize Muslims are viewed as disturbing the public order and thus illegal. Visa applications of expatriate Christians suspected of proselytizing were not renewed or their employers were pressured not to extent their contracts. Consequently the country received considerably more points this year.

January 2010

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