Enforced disappearance: Amri's wife gets classified report

 

Amri Che Mat’s wife has obtained a court order to access the classified special task force report into the activist’s enforced disappearance in 2016.

The High Court in Kuala Lumpur today allowed the judicial review application by Norhayati Mohd Ariffin to access the report to strengthen her related civil action against the police and federal government over her husband’s disappearance over six years ago.

Her counsel Larissa Ann-Louis confirmed the decision by judge Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh, adding that the civil court ordered the authorities to disclose the report to the applicant within one month from today.

The government’s legal representative Shamsul Bolhassan also confirmed the outcome, adding that the court ruling is only for the Official Secrets Act 1972 classified report to be utilised by Norhayati for the main legal action and is not to be disclosed to third parties.

On June 26, 2019, two months after the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) concluded that Amri was a victim of enforced disappearance by the police, the Home Ministry formed a special task force to re-investigate the matter.

However, there was a lack of updates on the report, leading to the civil society group Citizens Against Enforced Disappearance (Caged) in 2021 to urge the government to release the task force's findings.

The task force was formed during the Pakatan Harapan administration headed by then-prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2019.

Caged’s media statement that urged the release of the findings was issued on April 2, 2021, during Muhyiddin Yassin’s Perikatan Nasional administration.

Following the 15th general election in November last year, the government is now led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who took over from Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

On April 3, 2019, Suhakam’s public inquiry concluded that Amri and pastor Raymond Koh, who vanished in 2016 and 2017, respectively, were victims of enforced disappearance.

The three-member panel unanimously concluded that the perpetrators were members of the Special Branch from police headquarters Bukit Aman in Kuala Lumpur.

Koh’s family also has an ongoing civil court action against the police and government over the pastor’s enforced disappearance. - Mkini