How the murder of a Malaysian transgender woman exposed fears over an Islamic penal code
The brutal killing of a florist in Malaysia shocks activists who say it must be seen against a backdrop of rising conservatism – including a plan to ease restrictions on sharia law
The murder of Sameera Krishman in the city of Kuantan, Malaysia, was brutal enough to shock the nation.
The florist was hacked repeatedly with a knife and shot multiple times on February 23, the day before her 28th birthday; her dead body then mutilated in an attack that came even as two men stood trial for a separate incident in 2015 in which Sameera was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, tortured and raped.
Officially, the motives for the two attacks are unknown, yet campaigners and rights activists are convinced that one aspect of Sameera’s life proved crucial in her death: her identity as a transgender person.
Sameera’s killing, they say, bears all the hallmarks of the kind of sickening violence that has accompanied at least 10 murders of transgender women since 2007 – violence they fear is becoming more commonplace amid a rise in conservatism in the multi-ethnic, multi-religious society.
