MP SPEAKS I refer to the statements made by Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Ahmad Zahid bin Hamidi in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday March 21 afternoon in respect of former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s conditions of detention in Sungai Buloh Prison.
I wish to correct key inaccuracies in Zahid’s answers in the House and also point our key issues which have not been addressed at all by the BN government despite them being raised for months.
Family visits
Zahid did not address the key issue of why family visits in prison are still restricted to non-contact visits where family members are not allowed to touch Anwar and can only speak to him through a telephone across a glass wall.
This is maliciously intended to create psychological pressure on him and his family members especially the young ones. Such family visits in prison are restricted to once a week hence his figure of 19 times.
Visits by lawyers
Zahid says ( I quote from page 58 of the Hansard for the day ): “perjumpaan dengan peguam 18 kali dan perjumpaan dengan peguam di luar mahkamah 85 kali dan hadir perbicaraan 24 kali” (Meeting with lawyers 18 times, meeting with lawyers outside court 85 times, attendinh hearings 24 times).
Two facts are completely wrong. Lawyers have visited Anwar in Sungai Buloh more than 18 times but are restricted to once a week.
Eighty-five visits by lawyers outside court is a false statement, a fiction - no such thing has happened.
The only contact with lawyers outside court is when lawyers are allowed to see Anwar when he is brought to court for court proceedings he is involved in.
That is his basic right as a party in court.
Zahid does not address the abuse of power where access by Anwar to his lawyers in Penjara Sungai Buloh is restricted to just one hour once a week.
As Anwar has at least 16 ongoing matters in different courts, this restriction has made it impossible for his lawyers to effectively represent him and he has been forced to act for himself in some of his cases.
Zahid has avoided explaining why the BN government is violating Anwar's rights to have proper access to the courts and his lawyers and clearly cannot justify it.
Anwar's health issues
Zahid referred to the offer from Georgetown University to treat Anwar there and said that the BN government was only prepared to allow them to come to Malaysia and treat Anwar in any hospital of his choice.
This is old news which was already discussed in November last year.
He should be aware and should have informed Parliament that Georgetown University has made it clear that they could only treat Anwar in the United States and the question of treating Anwar here never arose.
Zahid should therefore not make meaningless offers that are quite irrelevant.
What is relevant to Anwar's health which is deliberately not addressed by Zahid is his need for regular intensive physiotherapy in hospital conditions. The need for such physiotherapy is confirmed in written reports by Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) doctors and also Anwar's independent orthopaedic specialists.
Each time that Anwar was hospitalised in June, July, November 2015 and February and March 2016 for checkups and treatment, he was given, on the advice of HKL’s specialists, intensive physiotherapy daily which greatly assisted him by reducing pain and discomfort from his right shoulder injury.
The HKL doctors recognise he needs such physiotherapy.
They know he needs it to reduce pain and to prevent permanent damage in the future.
What Zahid is avoiding replying was why when such treatment was given by the HKL doctors in line with Anwar’s independent specialist advice, why is the BN government led by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak depriving Anwar of such treatment in prison.
Why is he not being taken to hospital and given proper physio as happened even during his first imprisonment by Mahathir Mohamad in 1998 to 2004?
This is tantamount to torture and inhumane treatment in violation of our obligations under human rights law.
After depriving Anwar of such necessary treatment, it is completely meaningless to inform the Dewan Rakyat, as Zahid did, that Anwar had 152 visits for medical examination and treatment.
What Zahid should have said is that most of these visits are when a medical assistant or doctor in prison will measure Anwar's blood pressure every or every other day. What Anwar needs is proper treatment; not meaningless visits that are used for propaganda.
The foodstuffs, the hospital bed and all other amenities provided to Anwar in prison are all recommended by his doctors taking into account Anwar medical conditions.
Anwar is kept secluded in prison in solitary confinement.
No matter what propagandist version Najib and the BN government put out, the entire world and many Malaysians consider Anwar a political prisoner.
Just yesterday, in yet another slap to the face of the Najib regime, the Inter Parliamentary Union, the global association of the parliaments of the world where Malaysia is a member, passed a resolution calling for the immediate release of Anwar Ibrahim.
R SIVARASA is the MP for Subang and lawyer for Anwar Ibrahim. --Mkini
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