Apostasy in Malaysia

Woman jailed for ‘worshipping tea pot’

Kamariah Ali, a 57 year old former teacher, was arrested in 2005 when the government of the Muslim majority country demolished the two storey high sacred tea pot and other infrastructure of the "heretical" Sky Kingdom cult.

For the eccentric sect, which emphasised ecumenical dialogue between religions, the tea pot symbolized the purity of water and "love pouring from heaven". But in Malaysia, despite constitutional guarantees of freedom of worship, born Muslims such as Mrs Ali are forbidden from converting to other religions. Mrs Ali has already been jailed once for apostasy, for 20 months in 1992.

Malaysia rejects Christian appeal: 17 Years of Devotion dismissed as “whim”

A three-judge panel ruled that only the country’s Sharia Court could let Azlina Jailani, now known as Lina Joy, remove the word Islam from her identity card. She started attending church in 1990 and was baptised in 1998.

“You can’t at whim and fancy convert from one religion to another,” Malaysia’s Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim said.

Woman Jailed and Loses Child for Converting