Tunisia's presidency has announced that women are now free to marry non-Muslims. The announcement ended the decades-old law.

It came a month after President Beji Caid Essebsi called for the government to scrap the ban dating back to 1973, the AFP news agency reports.

A spokeswoman for the president posted on Facebook:

"Congratulations to the women of Tunisia for the enshrinement of the right to the freedom to choose one's spouse."

Until now, a non-Muslim man who wished to marry a Tunisian woman had to convert to Islam and submit a certificate of his conversion as proof.