Social media star Nur Sajat Kamaruzzaman has filed a police complaint against the Islamic religious officers she has accused of wrongfully handcuffing her during interrogation, the Selangor Islamic Religious Department, or JAIS, said today.
In a statement released a day after the 36-year-old transgender woman leaked footage of her in distress while under JAIS custody on Jan. 6, the religious authorities confirmed that Sajat was being investigated over reports made against her in 2018 and 2020. The officers who had been with her during the Wednesday incident were also called up to provide statements.
“Sajjad has made a police report on the incident and our officers have also been called to the authorities to give their statements,” JAIS said, referring to the entrepreneur’s dead name. “For your information, Sajjad is being investigated under Section 10 of the Sharia law in the Selangor state based on a few reports from witnesses in 2018 and 2020.”
Sajat had secretly recorded her meeting with religious officers with her phone and put the 40-minute video up on Instagram for more than a million people to watch.
One of the officers could be heard saying in the video that Sajat was being investigated for allegedly “insulting Islam” by wearing a long pink dress during her visit to the religious school Tahfiz Az Zahrah Lilbanat in Subang, where she was doing charity work with her employees.
Sajat did not mention anything about a 2020 report against her. Her Instagram has since been set to private and her profile photo changed to an illustration of a girl with the words “Words Hurt Kill” and “Stop Bullying.”
If found guilty, Sajat could be fined up to RM5,000 (about US$1,200) and jailed for three years. The vague law also covers ridiculing Islamic culture and defaming the religion.
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