KUALA LUMPUR – Vocal Muslim activist Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa has questioned how Malaysian police concluded that a Turkish citizen wanted by his government was linked to a terrorist organisation in the absence of any process to prove the claims.
Farouk said it was mind-boggling that police made such a conclusion when they could not even make up their mind over the gay sex video implicating a minister.
“They couldn’t even identity who was involved in the sex video,” he said, referring to viral clips implicating PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali.
“So how could they identity something that happened thousands of miles away?”
Last week, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad defended the move to hand over Arif Komis, his wife and their four young children to Turkish authorities.
Ankara, which has been clamping down on political dissent since a failed coup in 2016, claims that Komis is aligned to the Gulen movement led by Turkish Muslim scholar in-exile Fethullah Gulen.
Ankara labels his movement a terrorist organisation, and blames him for masterminding the coup, claims Gulen has strongly rejected.
Mahathir also said police had proof that Komis was linked to the Gulen movement.
Farouk, who heads the Islamic Renaissance Front, said he has high regards for Mahathir, but felt that he was wrong in Komis’ case.
“I respect the prime minister very much but I think on this particular issue, he is wrong,” he told FMT on the sidelines of a forum here.
“Why are we succumbing to the Erdogan government to send them back to Turkey when we know for sure what happens in Turkey?” he asked.
Komis, 43, and his family were detained at Kuala Lumpur International Airport before they were put on a flight to Turkey on Friday.
He is among thousands of Turkish nationals abroad accused by Ankara of plotting the overthrow of the Turkish government during the failed coup of 2016.
Komis, who was a school teacher at a private school in Kuala Lumpur, was the fourth known Turkish national deported by Malaysia at Ankara’s request.
In 2017, Malaysia deported three Turkish nationals – Turgay Karaman, Ismet Ozcelik and Ihsan Aslan – drawing condemnation from rights groups.
Farouk said Komis, like Karaman, whom he described as a close friend, was living peacefully in Malaysia, and challenged the authorities to prove claims of his links to terrorism.
“I mean, how could they verify that? It was just based on the Turkish government’s claims,” he said.
Komis’ deportation drew condemnation from international rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, although local rights groups did not comment when contacted.
Farouk and former ambassador Dennis Ignatius were two individuals who slammed Putrajaya over the move.
He said a similar modus operandi is used by Beijing in its crackdown on political dissenters, who are labelled terrorists, in the hopes that governments abroad would deport them.
Farouk, who is convinced that Komis would be jailed, said it was unfortunate that his deportation came when Malaysian Muslims were celebrating Awal Muharram, the start of the Muslim calendar date, which also remembers the hijrah, or the migration of early Muslims fleeing persecution from Mecca to Medina.
“This is against the entire concept of human rights and the idea of hijrah,” he said.
“Now we are migrating people back to a country that is going to be hostile towards them.”
Farouk said Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah should take responsibility over the fate of Komis.
He said Saifuddin had said that a new standard operating procedure (SOP) would be introduced to ensure justice for asylum seekers in Malaysia being sought by foreign governments.
He said that under the SOP, said to have been endorsed by the Cabinet, Wisma Putra would be briefed about their case before police decide to deport them.
“So did the police inform Wisma Putra about this case?” Farouk asked.
“If they did not, then it shows that everything was a sham and there was no new SOP. To me, it shows his weakness as foreign minister.”
Farouk urged Saifuddin to explain why the new SOP was not followed.
– FMT
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