Enforced disappearance: Amri’s wife, daughter to testify in lawsuit

 

The wife and daughter of missing Amri Che Mat are set to testify in the civil court this Wednesday over the family’s lawsuit against the police and government over his 2016 enforced disappearance.

The family’s counsel Larissa Ann-Louis, when met after open-court proceedings today, confirmed that Norhayati Mohd Ariffin and Amirah Amri are part of the 13 witnesses set to give oral evidence during the full trial of the civil action at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.

The full trial of the lawsuit was initially set to begin today. However, the proceedings had to be postponed due to technical issues related to the judiciary's IT system.

During the short proceedings before judicial commissioner Su Tiang Joo, the civil court was informed that the family would be calling 13 witnesses while the defendants - the government and the police - seek to call eight people to take the witness stand.

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.

Amri Che Mat’s wife Norhayati Mohd Ariffin

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

A few months later that year, Norhayati filed a writ of summons against the police and government over Amri’s enforced disappearance that took place sometime around midnight back on Nov 24, 2016.

Senior federal counsel Zetty Zurina Kamaruddin appeared for the government and police in the legal action by Amri’s family.

Limited access to report

Previously on May 9, the civil court allowed Norhayati limited access to the classified special task force report into Amri’s disappearance. She intended to rely on the report - classified under the Official Secrets Act 1972 - to strengthen her main civil action.

However, the government and police have since appealed to the Court of Appeal to quash the civil court greenlight for Norhayati to have limited access to the OSA-classified report.

The government and police also succeeded in obtaining a civil court order to stay the ruling in relation to the classified report, pending disposal of their appeal.

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