Formerly called Azlina Jailani, she is an ethnic Malay who converted from Islam to Christianity in 1990, but since then has been unable to have the word Islam deleted from her identity card. As a result of her conversion she has already suffered imprisonment in a drug rehabilitation centre for men, where on one occasion she was caned on her back, in an effort to force her to return to Islam. Lina Joy began her legal battle to change her official status in 2001 in a civil court. She tried to avoid having the matter handled by a Syariah court, arguing that Article 11 of the constitution guarantees the right of all citizens of Malaysia to choose their own religion. Islamic law (Syariah law) specifies the death sentence and other punishments for apostasy from Islam. However, a lower court ruled that civil law cannot have precedence over Syariah law in this case. A Syariah court would prohibit her from officially leaving Islam. Now she is waiting for the ruling of the Federal Court, which is the highest court in Malaysia.
PS update on this story at this posting.
� 23/08/2006 - The Lina Joy Case and Religious Freedom in Malaysia - Barnabas Fund:
Filed in: Islam, shariah, Malaysia, religion, freedom, conversion, Christian
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