KUALA LUMPUR, April 6 — A homosexual, atheist Malaysian student’s claim for refugee status in Canada has been accepted after he reportedly received threats from Malaysians here.

Canadian news site CBC News reported that an Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada panel in Winnipeg yesterday declared Hazim Ismail, a student at the University of Winnipeg, a “protected person”, which means he cannot be deported back to Malaysia, according to his lawyer Bashir Khan.

“I’m trying to fight for survival because Malaysia’s not welcoming of homosexuals,” Hazim was quoted saying.

Hazim’s lawyer Bashir said his client would receive a written version of the refugee status hearing panel’s decision within three to six weeks, after which Hazim can apply for permanent resident status in Canada, a process that is estimated to take between 10 and 13 months.

A GoFundMe campaign was started for Hazim last December to help fund the rest of his semester at the University of Winnipeg after his family disowned him and cut off funding upon discovering his homosexuality and atheism.

Hazim reportedly said he once thought of returning to Malaysia, but decided not to after he was hit with homophobic comments and threats from members of the public here when his case received local media attention.

“If you had asked me like back in December, I would’ve been like, ‘Ah, well, maybe I can go back.’ But now, like, this was me backed into a corner,” he was quoted saying before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada’s 20-minute hearing yesterday.

Hazim also reportedly said he received last week an email from someone claiming to do research on apostates in Malaysia, who wanted him to name the apostates who have come out to him privately.

“It’s one thing to come out to a family that’s not receiving it very well, but to be outed to thousands of strangers, it’s not something that I don’t feel [sic] anybody could be prepared for, so it has been really stressful,” he was quoted saying.

Homosexuality and apostasy are controversial topics in predominantly-Muslim Malaysia, with religious authorities repeatedly demonising the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.