Laws that punish the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is wrong in Islam as Islam separates the individual and the act, a British analyst of political Islam said.

Speaking at a forum in Kuala Lumpur, Anas at-Tikriti (right) said that humans are born different to each other and punishing these differences is a “crime” in religion.

He said that such differences is “not a premise or a right” to persecute any individual as Islam speaks against the act, but not the person.

"There is no right or premise to persecute on that kind of difference. That itself is a crime in religion.

"Islam differentiate between the persons and the act so the call for prosecution is wrong....," he said.

He was speaking a forum entitled 'The politics of religious liberty: Persecution in the Name of Religion' organised by the Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF) yesterday afternoon.

Anas, an Iraqi-born British citizen whose father Osman Tawfiq is former chairperson for the Iraqi Muslim Brotherhood, migrated to the UK at the age of four due to his family's political differences with the Saddam Hussein regime at the time.

He is also the president of the Cordoba Foundation, which works on interfaith dialogue, and features regularly as a commentator on Islamic issues in British media.

Earlier, Anas stressed that any country which aspires to be an Islamic country must first respect the rights of non-Muslims.

"You want Malaysia to be a Muslim country you must protect the rights of non-Muslims as much as you protect the rights of muslim.

"If you do it one degree less that means you're not serious (about setting up an Islamic nation)," he said.

He also said that minorities the world over have been used as political mileage by both the oppressors and those who claim to defend them.

The forum was moderated by IRF chairperson Dr Farouk Musa and also featured law lectuer Azmi Shahrom.