Shah Alam court frees Rohingya teen from immigration charge

A 15-year-old Rohingya refugee today succeeded to quash her immigration offence charge after a Shah Alam High Court ruled to take into account safeguards under the law for all children.

In granting an application to set aside her charge, High Court judge Hasbullah Adam cited protections under the fourth preamble of the Child Act 2001 and Article 22 of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

“The prosecution did not dispute protections given for refugees in general, and also (based on a child’s refugee status) as provided under Article 22 of the UNCRC, as argued by the applicant’s lawyers.

“This court also did not find anywhere in the respondent’s submissions that disputed a UNHCR (United Nations High Commission For Refugees) letter dated June 22, 2022 (on the teenager’s refugee status),” said Hasbullah at the end of the hearing.

As such, the judge ruled for the teen to be released and freed from a charge under Section 6 of the Immigration Act 1959/63 for the offence of not having valid travel documents.

Noor Mawarni Abdul Halim and Mohd Asnawi Abu Hanifah appeared for the prosecution.

Met after the hearing, the teen’s lawyer Collin Arvind Andrew said they argued how the charge was in conflict with the fourth preamble of the Child Act 2001 that protects all children without any distinction, including based on their immigration status.

“The matter is further seen in Article 22 of the UNCRC which basically gives protection to refugee children.

“Our government has also lifted reservation to the article since way back in 1999,” he said.

Charged as an adult

The teen, who arrived in Malaysia unaccompanied, was arrested in April last year and later charged under Section 6 of the Immigration Act 1959/63.

She was first charged as an adult in May last year but the case was discharged after dental records proved her status as a child.

Four months later, she was charged as a child for the same offence and remanded at Kajang Prison until earlier this year when she was transferred to a shelter home in Kuala Lumpur.

The Rohingya ethnic group has been the target of a military crackdown by Myanmar’s authoritarian regime that drove vast numbers of them out of the country’s Rakhine state.

A large number of these stateless people were forced to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh, India, China, and Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia. - Mkini