Nur Sajat, a transgender Malaysian influencer and entrepreneur, was arrested and detained in January 2021 as the result of a 2018 case in which she was accused of insulting Islam. She stood accused of “cross-dressing” during a visit to a religious school, as Malaysian law does not recognize her as a woman. Nur also claimed police officers physically assaulted her and filed a report stating as much. She was soon released, but the case is ongoing, and she could potentially face imprisonment and/or a fine.

Nur also received a slew of death threats in late February and early March 2021 which ultimately prompted her to go into hiding. She had posted a video in which she expressed her hesitance to continue following Islam and her desire to leave the faith, largely because of the mistreatment of trans people she felt its practitioners engaged in. The video went viral, and threats posted on Facebook in response include “I want to stone him now” and “His blood is halal.”

“I will leave Islam. It would be better like this. [People who are anti-trans] made me want to quit the religion. Because we didn’t do anything wrong but people harshly blame us for being bad.” - Nur Sajat in the controversial video

Due to the complications arising from this video, Nur did not show up for a scheduled hearing related to the 2018 case, after which a warrant was issued for her arrest. More than 100 officers were deployed to track her down, which critics say was a pointless display of excessive force meant to intimidate the LGBT community.