KUALA LUMPUR: The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) says it will investigate claims of harassment by the wife and aide of one of several individuals arrested under security laws for alleged links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) group.
The claims were made at a meeting here today, where family members of 11 individuals handed over a memorandum to Suhakam urging the commission to declare the arrests illegal.
V Umah Devi, the wife of DAP’s Gadek assemblyman G Saminathan, said she had received a call from a man claiming to be a high-ranking police officer as she waited outside Bukit Aman for the release of her husband last month.
She said the man told her that she could receive “good news” the next morning.
“But the man said, ‘You need to belanja me makan.’ When I asked him what he meant by that, he said, ‘You can’t even understand simple words. It is not a small amount.'”
When asked by reporters what she understood from the man’s words, Umah Devi said he was soliciting a bribe.
“He was looking for money,” she added.
When she challenged the man to meet her in person, he refused to reveal his name. She said she never received another call from him after that.
She added that she had not lodged a police report as she believed the offer to have her husband released came from the police themselves.
K Jayasutha, an aide to Saminathan, claimed she too had been harassed.
She said she would receive a call several days before a planned candlelight vigil or prayer gathering where the caller would quiz her about the list of attendees.
She said she would also be told to remove Facebook posts in which she defended the detainees from allegations of terrorism.
“They told us not to post anything because the posts were going viral,” she told reporters.
“I also got messages on Facebook telling me to remove the posts.”
When asked if the callers ever identified themselves, Jayasutha said no. However, she said they “sounded stern and their message was clear”.
Saminathan, along with fellow DAP Seremban Jaya assemblyman P Gunasekaran and 10 others claimed trial last month to charges of terrorism, some three weeks after their arrest in a crackdown on LTTE sympathisers.
Suhakam commissioner Jerald Joseph said the commission would investigate the claims.
Sevan Doraisamy, the executive director of rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia who handed over the memorandum on behalf of the families said such acts were unacceptable in Malaysia Baru.
“The inspector-general of police must look into this,” he added. - FMT
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