An Iraqi court has ruled in favour of a young Christian woman, Maryam*, allowing her to have her official religious status corrected in the government’s database after she was automatically registered as Muslim under Iraqi law. The significant ruling restores Maryam’s ability to live in accordance with her Christian faith and sets an important precedent for religious minorities across the region.
Her case was supported by Alliance Defending Freedom International (ADF), a faith-based, conservative legal advocacy organisation operating globally to protect religious freedom, free speech, and the sanctity of life. According to ADF, Iraq will appeal the decision to the Iraqi Federal Court of Cassation, the highest court in these matters.
Despite being raised in a Christian family, Maryam and her sisters were forced by law after their mother separated from their father and remarried to a Muslim man, in accordance with Article 26(2) of the Iraqi National Card Law No. 3 of 2016, which provides that “minor children shall follow the religion of the parent who has converted to Islam.”
When she had reached the age of legal majority, Maryam filed a legal claim in January 2025 to have her religious status corrected in the government’s database to reflect her Christian beliefs. The court’s decision affirms her right to choose her religion and have it accurately reflected in the government’s database.
If the decision is not revoked by the Court of Cassation, it most likely opens the door for other Iraqis to change their religious registration. Maryam’s two younger sisters, who didn’t reach the age of majority yet, remain legally registered as Muslims. But similar legal actions will also be taken for them when they reach the age of majority.
According to ADF, Maryam’s case highlights a pervasive problem in many parts of the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia: the practise of state-assigned religion, in which governments record a citizen’s religion in official databases or on identification documents, making it difficult or impossible to change. In many countries, these designations are imposed without an individual’s consent, whether through clerical errors, inheritance from a parent’s conversion, or coercive government policies, and can carry severe consequences for daily life.
In Iraq and other countries, inaccurate or imposed religious designations can result in mandatory enrolment of children in religious education programs not of their faith, barriers to marriage, automatic assignment of children’s religion based on parental records, inheritance complications, family law conflicts, and exposure of non-Muslims to Sharia court jurisdiction.
*Name has been changed to protect identity.
Please pray:
- Pray that a positive decision will soon be taken by the Iraqi Federal Court of Cassation in favour of Maryam.
- Pray this case leads to freedom of choice for more Iraqi Christians in similar situations.
- Pray for the boldness of other Iraqi Christians. It is dangerous to be a Christian in Iraq; pray for their safety, courage, and strength.
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