Suhakam to probe 'UIA police roughed up student activist' claim

The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) will launch an investigation into student activist Asheeq Ali Sethi Alivi’s claim that he was roughed up by International Islamic University Malaysia (UIA) campus police personnel while giving a talk there.

This comes after Asheeq complained about the treatment he had received in a memorandum handed to the commission at its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur earlier today.

Suhakam commissioner Jerald Joseph confirmed that the commission will soon contact all relevant parties and initiate a probe.

“Once a complaint is received, we will start our investigation and find out all necessary information,” he said when contacted.

In the memorandum sighted by Malaysiakini, Asheeq said he was “dragged out” of UIA’s Gombak campus on April 6 after entering the grounds without incident.

He had been scheduled to speak at an event titled "Jelajah Kuasa Mahasiswa, HEP Bukan Tuhan" (The student power roadshow, schools affairs divisions are not gods), organised by Mortar Movement, which seeks to inform students of the golden age of Malaysian student movements in the 1960s.

“Not long after the microphone was handed to me, five campus police dragged me out violently and instructed me to leave UIA.

“The reason they gave me was that I was a controversial person and was barred from entering UIA.

“To me, what was done to me was a form of violence and it violated my rights to movement and to speech.

“UIA should not have used violence against me as I am a university student as well,” he wrote, adding that graphic artist and activist Fahmi Reza had also been scheduled to speak at the same event.

The event was eventually held at a different venue.

Along with the memorandum, Asheeq, who is a final year Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) law student, also handed over video evidence to Suhakam. - Mkini