A/HRC/10/8/Add.1 page 36 Observations 134. The Special Rapporteur is grateful for the Government’s response. She would like to refer to her framework for communications, more specifically to the international human rights norms and to the mandate practice concerning freedom from coercion (see above, para.1, category I.2). Each State has the positive obligation of ensuring that the persons on their territory and under their jurisdiction, including members of religious minorities, can practise the religion or belief of their choice free of coercion and fear (see A/HRC/6/5, para. 9). In letters sent to the Government on 28 March 2008 and 28 January 2009, the Special Rapporteur reiterated her wish to visit the Lao People’s Democratic Republic in the framework of her mandate. Malaysia Communication sent on 12 October 2005 135. The Special Rapporteur had received information concerning a decision by Malaysia’s Court of Appeal according to which conversions from Islam to another religion have to be authorized by sharia courts in the case of Lina Joy, formerly Azlina Jailani, aged 41. 136. Lina Joy, a former Muslim who converted to Christianity in the late 1980s, had approached the National Registration Department (NRD) in February 1997 in order to request that her name and religious status be changed on her identity card. The application was rejected in August 1997 on the grounds that the sharia court had not granted permission for her to renounce Islam. When she appealed the decision, in 1998, the NRD allowed the name change, but refused to change the religious status on her identity card. Following another appeal, High Court Judge Datuk Faiza Tamby Chik ruled in April 2001 that she could not change her religious identity, because ethnic Malays are defined as Muslims under the Constitution. He also said jurisdiction in such cases lay solely in the hands of the sharia court. On 19 September 2005, the Court of Appeal announced the final decision stating that Lina Joy must apply to a sharia court for permission to legally renounce Islam. 137. Law requires all Malaysian citizens over the age of 12 to carry an identity card with them at all times and all identity cards issued to Muslims must clearly display their religious identity. A Muslim designation on an identity card has legal consequences, such as the prohibition of marrying a Christian. Response from the Government dated 28 July 2008 138. The Government of Malaysia informed that the Federal Court, which is the apex court in Malaysia, had concluded the case and therefore provided the Special Rapporteur with the details of the judgment. On the case of Lina Joy vs. Wilayah Persekutuan Islamic Religious Council and others, the Federal Court, in its majority decisions, held that the National Registration Department (NRD) had no jurisdiction to amend the religion of a person. The fact that the NRD insisted that Ms. Lina Joy obtain either a sharia court order or a Religious Department’s documentation to confirm the status of her conversion out of Islam before her application to amend the statement relating to her religion on her identity card could therefore be allowed. According to the Federal Court, the policy adopted by the NRD that a mere statutory declaration