Five judges sitting in the Malaysian Federal Court in Sarawak state ruled on Tuesday that the country's Islamic Sharia courts should consider whether their identity cards ought to be revised.
According to World Watch Monitor, an organisation which reports on cases of Christians seeing persecuted for their faith, people leaving Islam in Malaysia are being left in "legal limbo".
Three of the believers converted from Islam to Christianity before becoming Muslims again in order to marry a Muslim spouse – they then reconverted to Christianity.
They have been named as Tiong Choo Ting (formerly known as Mohamed Syafiq Abdullah), Jenny Peter (Nur Muzdhalifah Abdullah) and Salina Jau Abdullah. A fourth is a Malay-Muslim woman, Syarifah Nooraffyza Wan Hosen, who left Islam and became baptised as a Christian in 2009.
A lawyer representing the group said Islamic Sharia law, which views apostasy as a criminal offence, makes no provision for those wanting to leave the faith.
Baru Bian, who is an opposition politician and a campaigner for the improvement of rights of indigenous Malaysians, said civil courts should have jurisdiction.
Tuesday's ruling comes amid speculation that Islamists have become increasingly vocal in recent years that Malaysia is governed no longer as a secular nation but as a Muslim state.​
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