Missions

9 Malaysian Christians Arrested on Conversion Charge Freed

Malaysia police Wednesday freed nine Christians who were arrested and held overnight after a university official mistakenly accused them of trying to convert Muslim students, Associated Press reported.

The nine were released without charge, but their arrests could deepen frustrations among religious minorities who feel authorities in this Muslim-majority nation increasingly ignore their rights in favor of Islam.

Police found they were only submitting questionnaires to other Christians for a research project about religious understanding, Zahedi told The Associated Press. Five were students at the university while the others were friends from Hong Kong.

The security at the Universiti Putra Malaysia misunderstood and handed the nine suspect to police late Tuesday. They were released on Wednesday.

It came in the wake of a dispute involving Roman Catholics who complained about two Muslim journalists who posed as Christians and took Communion at a church service. The ban of Christian literature to use God as Allah is also an on-going court battle since 2007.

Proselytizing of Muslims is forbidden in Malaysia, although the reverse is allowed. Muslims, who comprise nearly two-thirds of Malaysia's 28 million people, are also not legally permitted to change religion.

Legally, Muslims in Malaysia cannot change their religion, apostasy is death penalty. Likewise proselytizing of Muslims is forbidden, although the reserve is allowed.

Muslims constitutes about two-third of Malyais’s 28 million estimated people, minorities – Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and others who make up one-third of the population have often complain authorities in this Muslim-majority nation increasingly ignore their rights in favor of Islam.

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