A Malaysian court on Friday temporarily forbade an ethnic Indian Muslim from converting his 1-year-old son to Islam, giving some respite to the man's Hindu wife who is trying to block him from changing their son's religion, media reports said.
The case has highlighted sensitive issues of race and religion among Malaysia's non-Muslim ethnic minorities, who, rights groups say, are facing an erosion of their rights.
The Court of Appeal ruled Friday that Muhammad Shafi Saravanan Abdullah %u2014 who converted from Hinduism to Islam %u2014 will have to wait for the apex Federal Court to hear the appeal by his wife, R. Subashini, before he can convert their son to Islam, the national news agency Bernama reported.
Subashini, 28, submitted her petition to the court on Friday. No date has been set for a hearing.
Malsysian Muslim Human Rights Lawer fight for her case!
RE:Malaysian Hindu Wife Forbids Sons Conversion to Islam!
by hakeem on Oct 14, 2007 02:32 AM Permalink
A prominent rights lawyer questioned the decision to separate Najeera from her husband.
"I don't think there's a legal basis for them to do it," Malik Imtiaz Sarwar said. "I don't know whether they can do that. I don't see where the powers to do so is"
"If she is saying she is not a Muslim, the Constitution guarantees her right to say that and nobody can order her to do anything other than that."
