Proposed Pakistani Law Would Criminalize Conversion From Islam

May 31, 2007

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Religion News Service

http://www.hinduismtoday.com/hpi/2007/6/6.shtml#3

NEW DELHI, India, May 31, 2007: A draft bill in Pakistan's National Assembly would impose the death penalty on Muslim men -- and a life sentence on Muslim women -- if they renounce Islam. The bill has received its first reading and now sits before a standing committee of the National Assembly. It has been tabled by Muttahida Majlis-e-Ammal, an alliance of six fundamentalist Islamic political parties. The proposed apostasy legislation would also allow the forfeiture of property and a loss of legal custody of children for those who renounce Islam. A section of the draft bill says the offender's own confession in court or incriminating testimony by two or more adults would be sufficient grounds for conviction.