A woman who converted to Islam to marry an Iranian will know on April 24 on her application to renounce the religion following the breakdown of the marriage.

Tan Ean Huang embraced Islam in 1998 after meeting Iranian Ferdoun Ashanian. She then changed her name to Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah.

In her affidavit, Fatimah, 38, said that she embraced Islam on July 25, 1998 in order to marry Ferdoun.

Their marriage took place on Sept 16, 2004 but he later left her and disappeared without any reason.

She then filed an application to renounce Islam at the Penang Syariah High Court in May 2006.

She told the court that she never believed in the Islamic teaching.

She added that despite her conversion, she continued to pray to idols of "Tok Pek Kong, Kuang Tin Ne and Ti Kong" according to her original religion of Buddhism and eat pork.

She wants the state Islamic Affairs Council to declare that she is no longer a Muslim, under Section 61 (3) of the Penang Islamic Administration Enactment.

She also wants the court to change the religious status on her identity card from Muslim to Buddhist. She also said that she does not know the whereabout of her husband.

Justice Othman Ibrahim will be delivering his decision on April 24.

Court registrar Azzeman Omar fixed the date today to enable Othman, who is now the Perlis Syariah Court chief judge, to personally deliver the decision.