Malaysia court to decide if non Muslims bound by Shari'a

AP/Washington Times:

Lina Joy has been disowned by her family, shunned by friends and forced into hiding -- all because she renounced Islam and embraced Christianity in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
Now, after a seven-year legal struggle, Malaysia's highest court will decide on Wednesday whether her constitutional right to choose her religion overrides an Islamic law that prohibits Malay Muslims from leaving Islam.
Either way, the verdict will have profound implications on society in a country where Islam is increasingly conflicting with minority religions, challenging Malaysia's reputation as a moderate Muslim and multicultural nation that guarantees freedom of worship.
Miss Joy's case began in 1998 when, after converting, she applied for a name change on her government identity card. The National Registration Department obliged but refused to drop Muslim from the religion column.
She appealed the decision to a civil court but was told she must take it to Islamic Shariah courts. Miss Joy, 42, has argued that she should not be bound by Shariah law because she is a Christian.
Subsequent appeals all ruled that the Shariah court should decide the case until it reached the highest court, the Federal Court, which will make the final decision on whether Muslims who renounce their faith still must answer to the country's Islamic courts.
About 60 percent of Malaysia's 26 million people are Malay Muslims, whose civil, family, marriage and personal rights are decided by Shariah courts. The minorities -- ethnic Chinese, Indians and other smaller communities -- are governed by civil courts.
The constitution does not say who has the final word in cases such as Miss Joy's. If she loses her appeal and continues to insist she is a Christian, it could lead to charges of apostasy and a jail sentence.
"Our country is at a crossroad," said Miss Joy's attorney, Benjamin Dawson. "Are we evolving into an Islamic state or are we going to maintain the secular character of the constitution?"
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No one, including Muslims should be bound by Shari'a law. It is a barbaric code out of the Middle Ages that has no place in any modern society. The UN should out law as a perpetrator of cruel and unusual and in humane treatment. The contention in this case that someone should be counted as Muslim after rejecting the religion is just disgusting in the extreme. That she has had to go to the Supreme Court of Malaysia to get a ruling is the sign of a sick society.