Partygoers were allegedly subjected to degrading questions by police during a targeted raid on the LGBTQ community at a Halloween party in RexKL recently.
Activist Numan Afifi, who was among the 20 Muslims that were arrested by police, revealed on Twitter today that cops asked attendees, many of whom were crossdressers, a string of lewd questions.
Some of the questions included were “Have you had unnatural sex?”, “Have you taken hormones or had surgery?”, “Why is your voice like that?” and “Why are you dressed like that?” – and were pretty intrusive.
Ridiculous questioning by JAWI, ‘have you had unnatural sex’ or ‘have you taken hormone or had surgery’ or informally like ‘you’re straight, right?’ or ‘why is your voice like that’ https://t.co/PLCGvhtJla pic.twitter.com/wPmPl5hRg1
— Numan Afifi (NumanAfifi) November 1, 2022
The people who were arrested, according to Numan, were questioned for about three hours.
They were eventually released but were instructed to come back later for another investigation.
He said that the way they were treated amounted to nothing more than religious officials harassing and intimidating them.
Transgender people were allegedly treated horribly by police during the raid, according to Numan. He alleged that one of them was slapped by police because they refused to pee standing during a drug test.
Additionally, Numan alleged that that evening, the officials mistreated the other visitors to RexKL.
On Saturday (Oct. 29), a major Halloween celebration at RexKL in Kuala Lumpur attended by the LGBTQ community was disrupted by local police who then detained 20 people for allegedly inciting vice and cross-dressing.
According to Numan, the authorities separated partygoers into two groups: Muslims and non-Muslims.
Subsequently, 20 Muslims were taken to the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department where “our identity details were recorded.”
Malaysia has a dual-track legal system, with Sharia courts handling some cases for Muslim citizens, who make up around 60% of the population.
In Malaysia, it is against the law to be homosexual, and laws that make sodomy a crime can carry penalties like jail time, beatings, and fines, although it is rarely enforced.
Rights groups have on numerous occasions slammed Malaysian authorities for discrimination and coming up with programs to “cure” LGBTQ people.
