Malaysian activists condemn assault of two men accused of homosexuality

PETALING JAYA — Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activists on Thursday (Dec 27) condemned the violent assault of two young men after they were beaten up by several unknown assailants for allegedly having sex in a car.

LGBT activist Numan Afifi Saadan, who shared the video, which has since gone viral, chastised the act of violence against the LGBT community and said it needed to stop.

“THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS! I categorically condemn this anti-gay violence and call on the authority to investigate on this hate crime. Enough is enough. p.s. If anyone knew the victims, please let them know that we’re here to give support. We need to stand up against injustice,” he said in a tweet on Thursday.

In the 96-second video, several individuals believed to be security guards can be heard in the background verbally abusing the duo while cursing them in Malay and calling them an “embarrassment”.

The video starts with the two shirtless victims being confronted by the group of men inside a car in an unidentified housing area.

After ordering the duo to exit their vehicle, the suspects then proceed to assault the victims physically.

The clip ends with the unidentified group demanding for the victims’ identity cards.

The video, which has also made its way to Facebook, has since been shared at least 1,200 times and viewed over 88,000 times.

Local LGBT rights group, PELANGI Campaign, also condemned the violent assault on the two young men.

“We categorically condemn this anti-gay violence and call on the Malaysian authority to investigate on this hate crime. Enough is enough,” it said in a tweet.

Human rights lawyer Eric Paulsen also weighed in on the subject, urging authorities to investigate and arrest the perpetrators involved.

“This is serious assault, an aggravated hate crime. Hope the authorities will investigate & arrest the perpetrators. Everyone deserves equal protection under the law,” he tweeted. THE MALAY MAIL