The Federal Court of Malaysia refused to recognize Lina Joy's conversion from Islam to Christianity, a decision with grave consequences for religious freedom in Malaysia.
"This decision violates international law and stands in wrongheaded defiance of the universal human right to religious freedom," said Angela Wu, International Director for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who attended a hearing for Ms. Joy and has testified before the US Congress on anti-conversion laws. "International law and the Malaysian Constitution guarantee the right to choose your own religious beliefs and change those beliefs according to your conscience. Today the Federal Court made it clear that if the state says you are a Muslim, those rights don't apply to you. Unfortunately for Lina Joy, a universal human right has been trumped by the state's insistence that she bow to sharia law."
The Becket Fund has issued a legal opinion on the case. For links to this and other resources, scroll down.
