Stronger IPCC oversight, open data on custodial deaths needed, says Suaram

The rights group says the home ministry must ensure the Independent Police Conduct Commission is automatically notified of all custodial deaths.

Suaram executive director Azura Nasron called for the home ministry to commit to the public release of comprehensive data on all custodial deaths to ensure accountability.

PETALING JAYA:

 Rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) has called on the government to strengthen the Independent Police Conduct Commission’s (IPCC) oversight of all custodial deaths and to commit to publishing comprehensive data on deaths in custody.

Suaram executive director Azura Nasron said the home ministry, in particular, must revise its protocols to ensure all custodial deaths are immediately referred to the IPCC, as mandated by Section 26 of the IPCC Act.

She said this in criticism of home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail’s statement yesterday that custodial deaths are only referred to the IPCC if they “involve issues of conduct”.

“While Section 26 mandates the referral of all custodial deaths to the IPCC, Saifuddin’s statement indicates that the home ministry continues to treat the police as the sole arbiter of when independent oversight is warranted.

“This effectively bypasses the statutory requirement for automatic notification and relegates the IPCC to a passive role, merely receiving filtered updates from the police’s own criminal investigation unit on deaths in custody.

“By the time the IPCC is engaged, the opportunity for a truly independent investigation is likely to be fundamentally compromised,” she said in a statement.

Section 26 of the IPCC Act requires police to refer to the IPCC any “incident which has resulted in grievous hurt or the death of any person in the detention or custody of a member of the police force as soon as practicable”.

Yesterday, Saifuddin said 42 cases of death in custody were recorded in 2025 – eight deaths in prison, 22 while being detained by police and 12 in police lockups.

“To ensure transparency, every case is thoroughly investigated by the police, with autopsies, internal investigations and referrals to the IPCC if they involve issues of conduct,” he said in a written parliamentary reply to Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim, who asked what steps the home ministry was taking to prevent deaths in custody.

Saifuddin said investigations found that the deaths stemmed from health factors, including heart attacks, strokes and chronic illness complications.

Azura also criticised the “persistent culture of secrecy” and lack of transparency surrounding custodial deaths.

“The lack of open data forces a reliance on Parliament for extraction of basic statistics, which is an inefficient use of legislative resources,” she said.

“Saifuddin’s brief attribution of 2025 deaths in police and prison custody to ‘health factors’ provides no clarity on the manner of death, obscuring public scrutiny of cases that involve potential state negligence – including poor detention conditions, violations of standard operating procedures (SOPs) or instances of torture and ill-treatment,” she said.

Azura called for the home ministry to commit to the public release of “comprehensive, disaggregated data” on all custodial deaths, as well as clear disclosure of the manner of death to ensure accountability for potential negligence or SOP violations. - FMT