Malaysian court orders return of Swatch watches seized over LGBTQ designs

Home Minister says government will await court’s full judgement before deciding on next move.

A Malaysian court has ordered the government to return dozens of Swatch watches seized by authorities over their designs celebrating LGBTQ pride.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court on Monday ruled that the Ministry of Home Affairs should return the 172 rainbow-themed watches after finding that they had been seized illegally without a search warrant.

Authorities confiscated the watches, worth about $14,000, during raids at 11 shopping malls in May last year, later citing the timepieces’ “LGBT elements”.

The court ruling comes after Switzerland-based Swatch filed a lawsuit arguing that the watches did not promote sexual activity but “peace and love”.

Malaysian Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution told a news conference that the government respected the court’s decision and would wait for the full judgement before making a decision on its next move.

Swatch Group Chief Executive Officer Nick Hayek condemned the raids at the time, asking sarcastically whether the Malaysian government would also confiscate “the many beautiful natural rainbows” that appear in the sky.

Malaysia criminalises same-sex sexual activity under both its civil code and Islamic law, which regulates the lives of the Southeast Asian country’s Malay-Muslim majority.

In July 2023, the government cancelled the Good Vibes music festival in Kuala Lumpur after Matty Healy, the lead singer of UK rock band The 1975, kissed one of his male bandmates onstage.

In October 2022, religious police raided an LGBTQ-friendly Halloween party in the capital’s Chinatown, arresting 20 Muslim men for cross-dressing.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies