The wife of social activist Amri Che Mat is seeking a court order to compel the police to hand over documents related to the standard operating procedure (SOP) in investigating his disappearance over four years ago.
The police have relied on these SOP documents to justify the validity and propriety of their investigation into Amri’s disappearance.
On April 3, 2019, Suhakam concluded that Amri was a victim of enforced disappearance.
Amri, an alleged Syiah Islam follower and proselytiser, disappeared on the evening of Nov 24, 2016, in Kangar, Perlis.
Plaintiff Norhayati Mohd Ariffin has filed a discovery application for the SOP documents as part of her main suit over her husband’s disappearance.
According to a copy of the application seen by Malaysiakini, she claimed that these SOP documents needed to be handed over to help the court ascertain whether the defendants’ investigation into Amri’s disappearance is lawful.
On Nov 18, 2019, it was reported that Norhayati filed the legal action over the police’s alleged failure to conduct a proper investigation into Amri’s disappearance. She is suing 21 individuals and entities.
Apart from the police and the government of Malaysia, the defendants included the Home Minister (who is not named), former home minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, former inspector-generals of police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar and Mohamad Fuzi Harun, as well as the former head of Special Branch's social extremism division, Awaludin Jadid.
Norhayati pointed out that the defendants took the position that they have carried out sufficient investigation and that the classification of Amri’s case as a missing person’s case is appropriate.
“During the Suhakam (Human Rights Commission) inquiry, the 18th Defendant (Royal Malaysian Police) put heavy emphasis on a certain ‘standard operating procedure’ to give justification for their position.
“Therefore, the documents are relevant and material,” the court filing said, referring to the defendants’ stance regarding the investigation into Amri’s case.
Discovery application was filed on Jan 15
When contacted by Malaysiakini today, Norhayati’s counsel Larissa Ann-Louis confirmed that they filed the discovery application on Jan 15.
The lawyer contended that despite the plaintiff’s legal team having made a written request for the SOP documents, the police refused to hand it over.
Larissa said that the plaintiff seeks the SOP documents to ascertain what criteria that the police would use to categorise a case as ‘missing person’ or ‘abduction’.
“This is because Amri was categorised as ‘missing person’ (by the police).
“The discovery application has been fixed for hearing on April 28,” she said.
Larissa added that the date is also fixed for case management of the suit before the High Court in Kuala Lumpur. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.