Malaysian transgender icon Muhammad Sajjad Kamaruz Zaman, better known as Nur Sajat, was reportedly arrested in Bangkok and out on bail, local reports said on Monday.
Nur Sajat has been on the run from Malaysian authorities since February this year after she was charged by religious high courts for violating the country’s Shariah Laws by dressing up as a woman.
Nur Sajat said that she also faced death threats in her native Malaysia after announcing that she would be leaving Islam.
She was reportedly arrested in Bangkok on September 8 and is out on bail, according to Malaysia’s The Star Newspaper.
The Star is also reporting that she is waiting to be resettled in a third country having applied for and being granted refugee status with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
She is reportedly waiting to be processed and resettled in Australia. Nur Sajat is known in Malaysia as a cosmetics entrepreneur.
Thai police told Thai Enquirer on Monday that they could not respond to queries about the case as it was a sensitive international matter.
It is believed that the Malaysian government are currently requesting her repatriation so that she could stand trial in a religious court where she could be jailed up to three years.
Malaysian transgender icon, on the run from Shariah law, reportedly arrested in Bangkok - Thai Enquirer