August 17, 2004
Source: Yahoo! News
Wire Service: AFP
On August 17, 2004 Agence France-Presse reported, "Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has approved a controversial bill seeking to outlaw 'unethical' religious conversions in the Buddhist-majority island, the parliament was told. The court ruling clears the way for the bill to be passed into law with a simple majority vote, despite protests from minority Christian organisations. The bill was proposed last month by the all-monk National Heritage Party, which won nine seats in the 225-member assembly in April elections. President Chandrika Kumaratunga's minority government in June announced similar plans to restrict conversions and asked the legal draftsman's department to prepare the legislation."