Yahoo – AFP,
Julia Zappei, 7 Nov 2014
 |
Transgender
activists celebrate outside the court of appeals in Putrajaya on
November 7
after winning a bid to overturn an anti-cross dressing law (AFP
Photo/Mohd
Rasfan)
|
Three
Malaysian transgender women on Friday won their landmark bid to overturn an
Islamic anti cross-dressing law in the conservative Muslim-majority nation.
A
three-judge appeals court panel ruled that a state provision that bars Muslim
men from dressing as women was unconstitutional, saying it "deprives the
appellants of the right to live with dignity".
"It
has the effect of denying the appellants and other sufferers of GID (gender
identify disorder) to move freely in public places... This is degrading,
oppressive and inhuman," judge Hishamudin Yunus said.
 |
Transgender
activist, Nisha Ayub (R), talks
to her colleague outside the court in
Putrajaya on November 7. Activists won
a bid to overturn an anti-cross dressing
law (AFP
Photo/Mohd Rasfan)
|
Malaysia
has a double track court system with state Islamic laws governing civil matters
for Muslims, who account for 60 percent of the country's 30 million people.
Under state
Islamic laws, men dressing or acting as women is punishable by up to three
years in jail. Some Malaysian states also outlaw cross-dressing by women.
Aston
Paiva, the plaintiffs' lawyer, said the ruling could be used to challenge any
arrest of transgender people throughout Malaysia.
"It's
quite historic... This will be a precedent... This court binds all other high
courts," Paiva said.
A Negri
Sembilan state legal advisor declined comment on whether his side would seek to
appeal the verdict to a higher court.
"I am
happy we won the case. I feel more relaxed now," one of the plaintiffs
told AFP by phone. "I have waited for this."
She and the
other two plaintiffs have shied away from any public appearances and were not
in court.
Systematic repression
The case is
the first attempt to overturn the prohibition on cross-dressing in the
Southeast Asian nation, where homosexuality and transgender lifestyles remain
taboo, and questioning Islamic laws is sensitive.
Human
Rights Watch in September called on the government to repeal all laws that
criminalise transgender lifestyles after the US-based group found that they
face systematic and constant repression, harassment, mistreatment, social
ostracism and "risk arrest every day".
Human
Rights Watch said in a report that transgender people in Malaysia face
worsening persecution due to the steady rise of conservative Islamic attitudes.
The abuses
include arrest, physical and sexual assault and extortion by authorities,
shaming by forcing transgender women to strip in public, and barriers to
healthcare, employment and education.
 |
Transgender
activist, Nisha Ayub (R), greets
her colleague outside the court in Putrajaya
on November 7, 2014. Activists won a bid
to overturn an anti-cross dressing law
(AFP
Photo/Mohd Rasfan)
|
Nisha Ayub,
a transgender activist, said Friday's ruling was a "critical moment"
for her community.
"The
fight will still be there... (but) at least now the trans community know that
they have their rights to challenge the law," she said. "It will
encourage them to come out rather than being oppressed."
Activists
and transgender people say that in the past attitudes were fairly tolerant in
the historically moderate Muslim country.
But
religious minorities and other critics have increasingly expressed fears about
the spread of conservative Islamic attitudes.
Some
Malaysian transgender people undergo sex-change surgery. But even then, they
are unable to legally change their names and genders -- Muslims and non-Muslims
alike -- complicating access to public services.
Deprived of
jobs, many are pushed into sex work.
No comments:
Post a Comment