Declassified task force report shows cops negligent in Amri case

 

A special task force found that the police were “negligent” by initially classifying enforced disappearance victim Amri Che Mat as a mere missing person case rather than an abduction, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard.

This was revealed in a testimony by the missing activist’s wife Norhayati Mohd Ariffin, who read out excerpts of a report by the task force today.

Previously, the High Court allowed Norhayati limited access to the report, which was classified under the Official Secrets Act, to bolster her lawsuit against the police and government over Amri’s enforced disappearance on Nov 24, 2016.

The police and government initially had an appeal before the Court of Appeal to quash the greenlight for Norhayati’s limited access to the classified report. However, they withdrew the appeal earlier this year.

During today’s civil action hearing presided over by judge Su Tiang Joo, Norhayati’s counsel Surendra Ananth was conducting the examination-in-chief of the plaintiff, who took the witness stand while referring to a copy of the report.

Norhayati said the task force found that the police initially classified the case as a missing person case, but the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) directed the authorities to reclassify the investigation as an abduction.

“The task force found that PDRM (Royal Malaysia Police) had been cuai (negligent) and incompetent for failing to classify Amri’s case as abduction, as under normal circumstances, a competent police would have from the onset classified this case as an abduction per Section 365 of the Penal Code from the very beginning,” Norhayati said.

Norhayati Mohd Ariffin

In reading out from the physical copy of the report which was not allowed to be circulated to the media or the public, Norhayati said the task force found the police were negligent in failing to track down and produce Saiful Bahari Abdul Aziz, a key witness in Amri’s disappearance.

The plaintiff, who has been seeking to unveil the mystery behind her husband’s disappearance over the last eight years, testified that the task force said the Bukit Aman federal police headquarters failed to give full cooperation when the task force sought information regarding Saiful Bahari, whom the police previously claimed they could not trace.

“The task force found that in terms of (10) persons of interest, Amri’s disappearance has a high probability of being caused by the direct or indirect actions of irresponsible PDRM officers, who acted individually or in a group, with unknown individuals from a religious organisation.

“Taking into account the circumstances of Amri’s disappearance, the task force found that the individuals can assist in further investigation,” Norhayati said.

The plaintiff said the task force found that the 10 individuals, who included Perlis state mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin and several police officers, were present at a meeting on Oct 7, 2016.

When asked by Surendra, Norhayati said that as far as she knew, the police and government did not abide by the recommendations of the special task force report for the last four years since the report was issued on March 13, 2020.

She added that she was never informed by the police or government that her husband’s investigation had been reclassified from a missing person case to an abduction.

Hearing before Su continues this afternoon.

Enforced disappearance

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 disappearances.

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.

Incidentally, Saiful Bahari is also a key witness in Koh’s disappearance. -Mkini