“APOSTATE” Mohamed Nazim has been taken into custody and threatened with death in the Muslim-majority north Asian nation of Maldives after declaring his atheism at a lecture given by lunatic Islamic hate-preacher Dr Zakir Naik, who is soon due to tour the UK.

Courageous Nazim – who was in a crowd of thousands – told Naik:

I am a Maldivian. I am still struggling to believe in religion. That is why I just came to the front of this row. I was born a Maldivian. My parents taught me the religion of Islam. They are good practitioners, actually. I read a lot of books. I have read the translation of Quran. Yet, I still do not believe in a religion. So what do you say, [about] my verdict in Islam?

According to prophetic traditions, every child is born as a Muslim and that a Muslim is one who submits his/her will to God. In Islam, death penalty should not necessarily be evoked on every person who leaves Islam, but to those who propagate the non-Islamic faith and speak against Islam.

Naik responded:

Naik asked: “Are you a Muslim?”Â and Nazim replied “I am not.”

According to this report, the brief exchange sparked hatred from an angry crowd of around 11,000, with many calling for his death. Several people rushed towards him as an official of the Islamic Ministry tried to escort him out. Police, however, came between Nazim and the crowd and took him into custody.

The newspaper report also stated that a crowed gathered outside the police station and demanded that Nazim be handed over to the crowd, who shouted anti-atheism slogans and called for Nazim’s beheading.

The Maldives media are reporting that it is the first time in many hundreds of years that a Maldivian has publicly renounced Islam, since Sultan King Hassan IX converted to Christianity in 1552 and was deposed.

The Maldives constitution mandates that all citizens of Maldives must be Muslims.Â A December 2009 study showed the Maldives (with a 99 percent literacy rate) to be in the top five percent of the worst nations for religious freedom abuse. It is a nation that has been building its criminal law based on sharia, andits Parliament bans non-Islamic houses of worship. There have been repeated reports on Maldives government publicly whipping of women and the Maldives is in the bottom rankings of nations with a global gender gap.

The Maldives is also a nation that, on May 13, 2010, was elected to be part of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

Defence lawyer Mohamed Ibrahim Waheed called for councelling for Nazim, saying he should be given the chance to “repent” before capital punishment is considered.

First, he should be counselled. If he does not take the advice and repent, the penalty stated in Shari’a should be evoked on him. According to Shari’a, the punishment for apostasy is death.

Waheed further argued that Nazim could be charged under the Religious Unity Act, for disrupting the religious unity of the country. A state prosecutor who wished to remain anonymous said Nazim could be prosecuted for legal disobedience.

Meanwhile, The Islamic Foundation has called for the self-declared apostate to be stripped of his citizenship and sentenced to death if he does not repent and return to Islam. It issued a press statement calling on judges to give Nazim the opportunity to repent.

If he does not, then sentence him to death as Islamic law and Maldivian law agreeâ€¦.The Islamic Foundation believes that the person who announces apostasy should be punished according to Islamic laws.

It warned that Nazim represented:

A disturbance to the religious views and the religious bonds that exist with Maldivians.

Zakir Naik, has a long history of calling for violence against those who choose their universal human right of freedom of conscience and leave Islam.Â Â He has repeatedly called for denying human beings their universal human rights of freedom of conscience, calling those who leave Islam as “traitors.”Â The London Times has quoted Zakir Naik as stating that:

People who change their religion should face the death penalty â€¦If Â a Muslim becomes a non-Muslim and propagates his/her new religion, then it is as good as treason.Â There is a â€˜death penalty’ in Islam for such a person.Â In many countries, the punishment for treason is also death. If an army general discloses his army’s secrets to another country, then there is a â€˜death penalty’ or life imprisonment for such a person according to the laws of most of the countries.

Hat tip: Alan