Human rights in Malaysia have always been something of a farce -- but this case deserves international condemnation.

From the scant personal details that can be pieced together about Lina Joy, she converted from Islam to Christianity eight years ago and since then has endured extraordinary hurdles in her desire to marry the man in her life.

Her name is a household word in this majority Muslim country. But she is now in hiding after death threats from Islamic extremists, who accuse her of being an apostate.

Five years ago she started proceedings in the civil courts to seek the right to marry her Christian fiancé and have children. Because she had renounced her Muslim faith, Ms. Joy, 42, argued, Malaysia’s Islamic Shariah courts, which control such matters as marriage, property and divorce, did not have jurisdiction over her.

In a series of decisions, the civil courts ruled against her. Then, last month, her lawyer, Benjamin Dawson, appeared before Malaysia’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, to argue that Ms. Joy’s conversion be considered a right protected under the Constitution, not a religious matter for the Shariah courts.

“She’s trying to live her life with someone she loves,� Mr. Dawson said in an interview.

Threats against Ms. Joy had become so insistent, and the passions over her conversion so inflamed, he had concluded there was no room for her and her fiancé in Malaysia. The most likely solution, he said, was for her to emigrate.

The truly obscene part of the case is that the civil courts left her with only one remedy other than leaving her homeland forever -- taking the case into the Sharia court system, which would have clerics of a faith Lina Joy rejects as false ruling upon her ability to exercise an international recognized human right. The problem is that the backwards and barbaric Muslim legal system considers attempted conversion to be a crime -- and it is therefore most likely that Lina Joy's attempt to vindicate her human rights would be met with a decision that she is a criminal for doing so. She would therefore be sent to a prison controlled by Muslim clerics in order to "rehabilitate" her -- in other words, to force her to renounce Christ in order to regain her freedom.

I urge prayers for Lina Joy.

And I ask where the international outcry is over this fundamental violation of human rights.

UPDATE -- 8/25/06: Michelle Malkin provides excellent coverage, noting that Malaysian police are investigating the Catholic Church where Lina Joy was baptized and the government is considering strengthening laws against preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Muslims. And she includes this quote from an Islamic scholar on the subject of conversions.

"If Islam were to grant permission for Muslims to change religion at will, it would imply it has no dignity, no self-esteem," said Wan Azhar Wan Ahmad, senior fellow at Malaysia's Institute of Islamic Understanding.

"And people may then question its completeness, truthfulness and perfection."

In other words, fundamental human rights are anathema to Islam. You can have freedom of religion or ROPMA, but not both. has the time come for the civilized nations of the world to decide between religious liberty and Islam?

COVERAGE FROM MALAYSIA by Maobi -- with many links to bloggers from Malaysia and around the world. Also good stuff from Guambat Stew

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