The Sepang Magistrate's Court today denied an application for bail by a 15-year-old Rohingya refugee who has been detained by the authorities for over two months for not possessing travel documents.
"Today was fixed for an application of bail on behalf of the child and the court has given its decision.
"Bail is denied, so I have got instructions now to make an application for bail at the Shah Alam High Court," lawyer Collin Arvind Andrew told Malaysiakini after the decision was delivered by magistrate Sharifah Muhaymin Abd Khalid.
The lawyer explained that they will make a fresh bail application as appealing against the decision would delay the matter further.
The 15-year-old was charged under Section 6(1) of the Immigration Act for not having any valid travel documents in the vicinity of the Dato Abu Bakar Baginda police station in Sepang district on Dec 11 last year.
The family of the teenager had previously applied to secure bail for the boy last month, though it was rejected.
They then filed an application at the Shah Alam High Court last week that the boy's detention since Dec 11 be set aside, quashed or stayed as it was in contravention of the Child Act 2001 and Article 22 of Child Rights Convention, which protects refugees seeking asylum from being prosecuted.
“We filed the application for this reason as it was not proper for a child to be sent to prison before trial,” Collin had said then.
That application will be heard before Shah Alam High Court judge Zulkifli Bakar on March 27.- Mkini
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