DUBLIN, August 25, 2006: (HPI note: This report is from the Christian website, Crosswalk.com.) Lina Joy, a Malaysian convert to Christianity, has gone into hiding after extremists issued death threats against her and the lawyers supporting her cause. Escalating anger over the latest stage in Joy’s lengthy struggle to change her religious status has led Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to order a halt to all public debate on the issue. Despite converting to Christianity 16 years ago, in 1990, Joy is still legally identified as a Muslim. Joy, previously known as Azlina binti Jailani, requested a name change from the National Registration Department (NRD) in 1997. The NRD granted the name change in October 1999 but retained the Muslim status on her new identity card. Malaysian law requires all Muslims to be declared as such on their identity cards; the religion of non-Muslims, however, is not specified. When challenged, the NRD said it could not change Joy’s religious status without a declaration from the Islamic law (sharia) court that she had become an “apostate.” Conversion out of Islam (“apostasy”) is either forbidden or regarded as a criminal offense under most state Islamic laws. In Malaysia, “apostates” may be fined, detained and imprisoned.
Joy, insisting that as a Christian she was no longer subject to the sharia court, appealed the decision; but the High Court and the Court of Appeal repeatedly dismissed her applications on the grounds that the sharia court had not approved her renunciation of Islam. On April 13, the Federal Court granted Joy permission to appeal the government’s decision. The court said there were “novel issues” to be argued in the case and that the matter was of public interest. When the case returned to court on June 28, it sparked heated debate in the Malaysian press.