Thursday, May 31, 2007

Malaysia Demonstrates Its Commitment to Human Rights: Refusal to Grant a Person’s Right to Convert Out of Islam Into Christianity

MIDDLE EAST TIMES: KUALA LUMPUR -- The woman at the center of a religious controversy in Malaysia has accused the country's highest court of denying her fundamental rights in rejecting her bid to be legally recognized as Christian, her lawyer confirmed Thursday.

Lina Joy's comments came a day after Malaysia's Federal Court rejected her attempt to win recognition of her conversion from Islam.

Joy, 43, had sought the removal of the word "Islam" from her national identity card.

But the Federal Court, the highest secular legal body, threw out her case and said that only an Islamic Sharia tribunal could legally certify her conversion. Malaysian woman criticizes court in religious row (more)

NZZ:
Verdikt gegen die Religionsfreiheit

Mark Alexander