A Blasphemy Law Never Enforced to Conviction in Sao Tome and Principe

This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.

Sao Tome and Principe criminalizes insulting religion under its 2012-revised Penal Code. Article 264 punishes anyone who publicly mocks or offends another over their beliefs or religious functions in a way that disturbs the public peace, with up to a year in prison or a fine, and Article 267 separately punishes public mockery or vilification of an act of religious worship with up to a year in prison or a fine of as much as one hundred days' income. Documented blasphemy accusations under these articles have been dismissed for lack of evidence rather than pursued to conviction.

The constitution guarantees freedom of religion and worship and establishes no state church, so the country presents an unusual combination among this atlas's entries: a written blasphemy law with real criminal penalties sitting alongside an otherwise ordinary freedom-of-religion guarantee, a law that exists on the books without evidence it has ever actually secured a conviction.