TI-M seeks transparency from govt on custodial deaths

 

We need greater transparency in the country, says Transparency International Malaysia’s (TI-M) president Muhammad Mohan.

“The rakyat can no longer accept the excuse of a “few bad apples” ruining the barrel – we need to study what is causing this recurring miscarriage of justice.

“This is not helped by the opaque and inconsistent procedures from the law enforcement agencies entrusted to protect us.

“Hence, TI-M calls upon the government to initiate a Royal Commission Inquiry (RCI) into the deaths in custody, under the ambit of the Home Affairs Ministry,” Muhammad (above) said in a statement issued by TI-M today.

The group claimed that this brings up a previous related RCI where TI-M is urging the government to withdraw the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) Bill - now undergoing its first reading.

They propose to replace it with the Independent Police Complaints and Monitoring Commission (IPCMC) Act as mooted in 2004, with its original structure and powers.

“As cases of deaths in custody, death camps at the border, protection rings and corruption scandals among the law enforcement agencies pile on, we can no longer live in the past and hope for officers from these agencies to oversee and punish their colleagues,” said the group.

Just last month, the National Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) revealed that there were 456 reported deaths in custody in 2020 alone.

Suhakam commissioner Jerald Joseph said this included 363 deaths recorded by the Prisons Department, 50 by the Immigration Department, 34 by the police, and nine in the National Anti-Drugs Agency (Nada).

Health factors remain the leading cause of custodial deaths, with Covid-19 contributing to this death toll in the last year as well.

This year’s figures have not been publicly disclosed by Suhakam.

Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin

However, on Sept 15, Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin claimed in an oral reply in Parliament to a question from PKR's Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim that for the year 2021, up until August, there had only been six deaths in police lock-ups.

In 2020, Hamzah said, there were a total of 63 custodial deaths.

This revelation led to criticism from human rights groups such as Suaram and Eliminating Deaths and Abuse in Custody Together (Edict).

In its rebuttal of the minister’s comments, Edict noted that the figure only included fatalities that took place in police lockups.

Further, Suaram executive director Sevan Doraisamy reminded Hamzah that Suhakam had, in its 2016 report, defined deaths in custody as deaths that occur during arrests by the police, deaths in police detention, and deaths wherein detainees die on the way to receiving medical treatment as well as when they die at a medical facility in cases where ward admission is necessary whilst still in police custody.

Following this, Hamzah later provided a breakdown of the 105 people who died while in custody in police lock-up facilities, prisons and immigration detention centres in 2020 and 2021. - Mkini