Oklahoma high court reverses itself in Syrian torture case

OKLAHOMA CITY – A state Supreme Court has decided a man who says he was tortured in his home country of Syria after converting to Christianity can take legal action against an Oklahoma church for publishing his name and baptism online.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court released its 5-4 opinion on Tuesday. It reverses a February decision in which justices decided to let stand a lower court ruling dismissing the case. The case now returns to a Tulsa district court to consider on its merit.

The plaintiff is a former Muslim identified only as “John Doe” who says after his baptism in 2012 at the First Presbyterian Church in Tulsa he returned to Syria and was kidnapped, tortured and nearly beheaded by radical Muslims who learned of his baptism online.