A millionaire transgender businesswoman who fled Malaysia after being charged with blasphemy has reportedly been granted asylum in Australia.
Nur Sajat, 36, fled Malaysia after she was called in front of a sharia court on a blasphemy charge for dressing as a woman at her beauty centre during a religious event in 2018.
Last month, Nur was detained in Thailand and fined for an undisclosed immigration offence.
There were reports that the Malaysian authorities were calling on the Thai government to have Nur extradited back to her home country to face trial.
Nur told her 312,000 followers on Instagram that she was terrified of going back to Malaysia as she has received countless death threats in the country.
The Harian Metro reported at the time that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has received an application from Nur for refugee status in Australia.
The news site The Star reports that the Thai authorities said: “A check found that Nur Sajat received a UNHCR card issued by its headquarters in Bangkok.”
According to the UNHCR website: “UNHCR identity documentation provides a level of protection which may reduce the risk of arrest.”
The website also states that the card “has no formal legal value in Malaysia, neither is it a passport”.
Nur posted a picture of Australia on her Instagram yesterday, 18th October, with the caption ‘New life’ and added ‘Citizen of Australia’ to her biography on the site, suggesting she is already in the country.
When one of her followers asked why she chose Australia, the influencer replied: “Because they respect human rights.”
She added: “What else do we want? We want freedom. So, human rights here, it is very important. They (Australia) really prioritise human rights. I don’t want anything, I just want human rights.”
She also suggested that she would never return to Malaysia and claims to have liquidated all her assets in the country.
The incident comes at an awkward time for the Malaysian government, which was recently elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council with the support of 183 countries.
Afiq Harraz, secretary-general of the new political group Parti Aspirasi Sains Malaysia, said: “We hope that with the recent news that Malaysia has been elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council for the coming term we will see an improvement in upholding human rights for all of its citizens and also the migrant population.”
The trans influencer’s rise to online stardom began in 2015 with the successful launch of her company Nur Sajat Aesthetic.
Nur went viral when she posted a video on Instagram stating: “(Anti-trans people) made me want to quit the religion. Because we didn’t do anything wrong but people harshly blame us for being bad.”
One comment beneath the Facebook video read “I want to stone him now” while another said “his blood is halal”.
Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, confirmed last month that 1,733 members of the LGBTQI community had been sent to religious camps run by the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) since June of this year (2021).
According to Human Rights Watch, transgender people in Malaysia “face arbitrary arrest, physical and sexual assault, imprisonment, discriminatory denial of health care and employment, and other abuses”.
