The Freedom of Thought Report 2017, by the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), said Malaysia was one of 30 countries which met at least one of its most serious boundary conditions.
These conditions included the criminalisation of apostasy.
Countries such as China, Brunei, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Morocco, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria and Yemen were also included in this category.
The report said Malaysia was one of 12 countries in which apostasy is “in principle” punishable by death.
It added that government authorities pushed a socially conservative, religiously-inspired agenda, without regard to the rights of those with progressive views.
“Expression of core humanist principles on democracy, freedom or human rights is severely restricted.
“‘Blasphemy’ is outlawed or criticism of religion is restricted and punishable with a prison sentence,” it said.
The report, which said Malaysia had a “narrow concept of human rights”, noted Prime Minister Najib Razak’s statement in 2014 that humanism, secularism and liberalism were a threat to Islam and the state.
“The idea that even divergent opinions within Islam are ‘deviant’ and a dire threat to national security is a frequent accusation made by members of the Malaysian government,” it said.
It also reiterated its comment at the time that Najib’s remarks were a “sad reflection” on his personal understanding of human rights.
In August 2017, it said, members of an atheist group affiliated with the Atheist Republic had received death threats and were subjected to a “government-led witch hunt”.
“Following the verbal attacks on the Atheist Republic meet-up, the liberty to hold or to express atheist views has been targeted by government ministers, claiming atheism is ‘unconstitutional’ and punishable under shariah and sedition laws.
“There is no clause prohibiting atheism in the constitution,” it said.
The report also quoted IHEU president Andrew Copson, who said criminalising apostasy contradicts the right to freedom of thought and belief.
LGBT rights meanwhile were largely unrecognised in Malaysia, it said, citing the case of T Nhaveen, who died in June this year following a violent attack in which he was beaten, burnt and raped for hours, allegedly by his classmates.
“Rising attention on the small number (~1%) prepared to identify as non-religious has lead government officials and police to threaten atheists and deny that there is a right to express atheism under the Malaysian constitution,” it said.
“This country is found to be declining, with human rights including freedom of thought and expression under serious assault.”
The IHEU report studies how non-religious individuals are treated because of their lack of religion or absence of belief in a god.
It assesses every country in the world against a range of boundary conditions which are placed at a given level of severity.
The highest level of severity is “grave violations”, followed by “severe discrimination”, “systematic discrimination”, “mostly satisfactory” and “free and equal”.
Only the boundary conditions which are found to apply to a given country are shown in its ratings table.