Becket Fund Advocates for Faith by Choice in Malaysia

Jul 30, 2006

The Becket Fund speaks out on behalf of people everywhere in support of their universal right to practice the religion of their choice. Recent cases on behalf of Muslims in the United States have seen the Becket Fund successfully defend the right of Muslim police officers in Newark, New Jersey to keep their beards, press for New York public schools to accomodate students fasting for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and most recently, successfully demand that a Richardson, Texas school reverse its policy penalizing Muslim students for praying.  Internationally, the Becket Fund has advocated against Azerbaijan's seizure of a mosque, and brought Muslim women to the United Nations to testify about being persecuted for wearing their headscarves in public in Turkey.

Now, a woman in Malaysia, born into a Muslim family, who by conscience has been lead to choose conversion to Catholicism, is fighting for her right to act according to her conscience.

Lina Joy, né Azlina binti Jailani, an ethnic Malay, is fighting for her right to convert from Islam to Catholicism in 1990.  

Despite Lina Joy's protestations that she was not a Muslim, the government refused to remove the designation "Islamic" from her identity card.  Because Lina Joy bore a Muslim identity card, she was unable to obtain a civil marriage license to a Catholic man, since Syariah Islamic law courts are supposed to govern all personal mattersconcerning Muslims.

After two lower courts denied jurisdiction to hear her case on the ground that she is a Muslim and therefore under the jurisdiction of Syariah courts, Lina Joy appealed to Malaysia's Federal Court. 

On June 28, the Federal Court heard Lina's last chance of appeal and is deliberating her case now.

Malaysia is once again at a critical point in deciding whether constitutional or Syariah will prevail, and whether it is indeed up to the state, de jure and de facto, to tell Malaysians what they believe. 

The Becket Fund has issued a legal opinion analysing comparative constitutional and international law issues for Lina Joy's appeal.  The appeal is being heard on June 28, 2006.

Visit The Becket Fund's case site for Lina Joy for a more detailed history and court materials.

Resources & Documents

• Angela Wu\\\'s Testimony Before Congressional Human Rights Caucus (Apr. 7, 2006) (PDF, 76.09KB)
• Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal - Asian Print Edition (Sept. 7, 2006) (PDF, 113.39KB)

Relevant Cases

• Malaysia - State Imposed Religious Designations - Lina Joy