A LAWYER told the Court of Appeal today that a woman’s application to renounce Islam was not done in accordance with Islamic principles after the shariah court dismissed her application.

Fahri Azzat stated her 33-year-old client would have to leave the country if she keeps losing her appeal to be given an opportunity to argue on the merits of her judicial review.

He said the woman ought to be granted leave to commence the judicial review as the Kuala Lumpur High Court last year erred in ruling that a civil court has no power to grant judicial review leave on renunciation issues.

“I’m begging for a chance for this case to go to a full hearing (before the High Court).

“She cannot lose (this case) without (being granted) leave,” he told a panel chaired by judge Azizah Nawawi.

Sitting with Azizah were judges See Mee Chun and Azizul Azmi Adnan.

“This is very important to her. If she loses her case, then I have to tell her she has no freedom of religion,” said Fahri.

“If she wants to live her life, then I would need to tell her to get out (of Malaysia). That is what she would have to live with.

“This (civil court appeal) is her last port of call. If we cannot even get in the door to argue on the merits (of the judicial review before the Kuala Lumpur High Court), if it is knocked out over jurisdiction (issue), then what other remedy has she left?”

Last year, the High Court dismissed the woman’s bid to commence a legal challenge to renounce her religion, saying the civil courts did not have the jurisdiction to hear such cases.

The court said under article 121(1A) of the Federal Constitution, the power to determine renunciation cases lay with the shariah court.

Meanwhile, senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly @ Arwi, appearing for the government, told the appeals court that the law is clear in stating that the civil courts are not empowered to review decisions made by the shariah courts.

He said any ruling that the decisions of the shariah courts could be challenged in the civil courts on grounds of illegality or procedural impropriety would open the floodgates and make even child custody disputes subject to review.

Azizah set August 28 to deliver the court’s decision.

The woman, born a Muslim, claimed she never practised Islam and that her mother had allowed her to choose her religion.

She said she had gone to the shariah high court in Putrajaya in 2018 to seek an order to convert out of Islam as she wanted to practise Buddhism.

She then filed an application in the shariah high court seeking to renounce Islam. The court ordered her to attend 12 counselling sessions.

The shariah court eventually denied her application to leave Islam in 2020 and told her to go for additional counselling sessions. – July 24, 2023.