Malaysia halts woman’s effort to legally convert

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia’s highest court handed down a decision May 30 that prevents Lina Joy, a Muslim convert to Christianity, from having her conversion legally recognized.

In a 2–1 majority decision, the federal court ruled that the National Registration Department was right in requiring Joy to produce a declaration from the Shariah (Islamic law) court stating that she is no longer a Muslim before it would remove the word "Islam" from her identity card.

The ruling comes after a seven-year legal battle to have Joy’s conversion officially recognized. Herman Shastri, general secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia, said, "We believe that the constitutional provision in Article 11 of the Federal Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion in our country, has been severely violated."