Marzuk also proposed codifying as Sharia criminal offenses changing one’s gender and producing or sharing social media content deemed obscene and indecent, including images of non-normative gender expression. The proposed amendment to the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act (Act 355), submitted by Ahmad Marzuk Shaary, deputy minister for religious affairs in the Prime Minister’s Department, would allow state Sharia (Syariah) courts to establish harsher sentences for same-sex conduct than the current maximum Sharia sentence permitted under federal law. The attempt to strengthen criminal penalties against LGBT Malaysians is the latest in a series of moves to cement the anti-LGBT, anti-human rights stance of Prime Minister Muhyididin Yassin’s Perikitan Nasional government.

(Bangkok) – The Malaysian government should renounce a cabinet minister’s proposal to increase criminal penalties against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, Human Rights Watch said today. © 2014 Javad Tizmaghz for Human Rights Watch Transgender people face discrimination and abuse from state officials and agents, including from public sector health workers, teachers, and local government administrators.

Malay gay telegram