the japan times
BY ROZANNA LATIFF AND EBRAHIM HARRISREUTERS
Apr 6, 2021
Rohingya refugee and activist Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani and his wife look out from their home in Kuala Lumpur. | REUTERS
KUALA LUMPUR – Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani, a Rohingya Muslim refugee and activist who fled persecution and ethnic strife in Myanmar, has called Malaysia home for nearly three decades.
Now, it’s more like a prison.
Zafar, 51, has not left his home on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur for nearly a year, after misinformation spread online that he had demanded Malaysian citizenship — triggering a wave of hate speech and death threats against him and his family.
“I’m still scared. For a year, I’ve not set foot outside. I’ve not seen the earth outside,” said the father of three.