January 20, 2010
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - A Malaysian man has failed in a bid to overturn a ban on sodomy, after a court ruled that the law criminalising the act was constitutional, his lawyer said Tuesday.
Lawyer Fahri Azzat said the case was the first constitutional challenge against the ban on sodomy in Muslim-majority Malaysia, which is punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment even if between consenting adults.
The legal challenge was launched by Abdul Rahim Abdul Rahaman, 39, who was appealing against his conviction of 60 years in jail for 22 counts of sodomising a 14-year-old boy. He had said the acts were consensual.
"We have argued that this law is wrong and it is unconstitutional because it breaches your rights to privacy and it also creates inequality in terms of gender," Fahri told AFP.
Fahri said the nation's highest court had assured the right to privacy in a ruling last year but that the law penalising sodomy breaches this right and "treats homosexuals as potential criminals".
The Court of Appeal however rejected the defence arguments and upheld the verdict against Abdul Rahim, a city hall worker who was also sentenced to 22 strokes of the cane.
"Are you saying that (homosexuality) among consenting adults is legal? In other words, what happens in the bedroom is none of the government's business?" judge Suriyadi Halim Omar said in opposing the argument, according to state media.
