in hiding Friday, August 25, after receiving threats from Islamic militants, Christian and other sources said.
Lina Joy, 42, reportedly converted from Islam to Christianity eight years ago and since then endured extraordinary hurdles in her desire to marry her Christian fiancé.
Because she renounced her Muslim faith, Malaysia’s Islamic Shariah courts, which control matters like marriage, property and divorce, did not have jurisdiction over her, observers said. Yet several civil courts ruled against her.
In a move analysts say could set a precedent for religious freedom in Malaysia, her defense team decided to take her case to Malaysia’s highest court.
APPEALS COURT
Last month her lawyer, Benjamin Dawson, appeared before Malaysia’s Court of Appeals, to argue that Joy’s conversion be considered a right protected under the Constitution, several news reports said.
Christians say they hope the court will order that the word "Islam" be removed from Joy’s identity card, as this would confirm the supremacy of the secular constitution over Islamic Shariah courts.
All she wants is "trying to live her life with someone she loves," The New York Times newspaper quoted Dawson as saying. But Muslim militants see it differently, adding to passions which became so inflamed that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi reportedly ordered a halt to all public debate on the issue.
LEAVING MALAYSIA?
In published comments lawyer Dawson said there is therefore no room for Joy and her fiancé in Malaysia and warned they may have to emigrate. No more details were released Friday, August 25, about a possible move to a third country.
The case underscored concern over Pakistan’s often used Islamic laws, under which conversion out of Islam, known as "apostasy" is forbidden or regarded as a criminal offense.
The legislation has often been used to imprison, detain and fine Christians, several rights investigators said. Malaysia has powerful Islamic affairs departments in its 13 states and in the capital district around Kuala Lumpur, The New York Times observed.
NO JOY
Adding to the difficulties for Joy was a recent public appeal from her mother, urging her daughter to return to Islam. About 60 percent of Malaysia’s 26 million people are Muslims, 20 percent are Buddhists, nearly 10 percent are Christians and 6 percent are Hindus, according to estimates.
"Malaysia is at a crossroads," Dawson explained. "Do we go down the Islamic road, or do we maintain the secular character of the federal Constitution that has been eroding in the last 10 years," he wondered.
Conversions of Muslims to Christianity are difficult in Malaysia, One 38-year-old convert, who said in an interview at a Roman Catholic parish that he would provide only his Christian names, Paul Michael, and not his surname, for fear of retribution, told The New York Times he led a double life.
"Church members know us as who we are, and the outside world knows us as we were," he said. (With BosNewsLife Research and reports from Malaysia).
