In Malaysia, LGBTQ sexual health workshop probe sparks free speech row
Civil society groups are challenging a police investigation into an LGBTQ sexual-health workshop in
Malaysia , rejecting claims that it could offend Islam or threaten public order.
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While Malaysia is secular and multicultural, Islam is the state religion, with Islamic authorities empowered to regulate Muslim affairs and enforce religious mores through the sharia court system.
Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan on Saturday said the closed-door workshop, which was slated for mid-June but has since been indefinitely postponed, was being investigated under the Penal Code for causing 'disharmony or ill will' on religious grounds – as well as under the Communications and Multimedia Act, a law often used to restrict online expression.
Critics called the police action another example of overreach by authorities and warned against the criminalisation of public-health efforts for a marginalised community.
Swatch LGBTQ Pride watches were seized in Malaysia in 2023. Photo: Swatch
'The fact that Islam is the official religion does not authorise the government to go on a witch hunt against events which allegedly infringe the tenets of Islam,' Zaid Malek, director of Lawyers for Liberty, a human rights advocacy group, said on Sunday.
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