Rights groups have taken Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail to task for being dismissive of reports by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on acts of torture at immigration detention centres.
At yesterday’s Dewan Rakyat session, Saifuddin claimed the report which detailed torture and ill-treatment faced by detainees had no evidence and did not follow any usable research or reporting methodology.
Suaram executive director Sevan Doraisamy said the minister should read the research methodology and seek clarification from HRW on aspects that he deemed questionable.
“The home minister should also clarify what ‘concrete evidence’ he is looking for.
“The only way forward is to take the violations highlighted in the report seriously and investigate accordingly,” he told Malaysiakini.
The report, titled “We Can’t See The Sun, Malaysia’s Arbitrary Detention of Migrants and Refugees” shared detailed punishments meted out by officers for various reasons.
They included asking questions, raising concerns about detention conditions, talking to detainees in adjacent blocks, fighting or having cell phones, making noises, and others.
Sevan suggested that the Home Ministry should let Suhakam helm the investigation to determine whether the alleged torture and inhumane treatment is a systematic issue.
“UNHCR is still barred from entering immigration depots and Suhakam can only visit immigration depots with the condition of compliance with relevant regulations.
“Lacking government transparency on such past occurrences, investigation outcomes, and steps taken to address them also persist,” he added.
Have to rely on witness testimony
Tenaganita executive director Glorene Das also backed HRW and said the report’s evidence comes from those directly affected. She confirmed that human rights advocates have been denied access to the immigration depots since 2019.
She also noted that because of the circumstances in cases such as these, they would have to rely on witness testimony instead of concrete evidence.
“They do not produce reports based on assumptions or hearsay,” she said.
Das added that based on Tenaganita’s three decades of working closely with migrant workers, asylum seekers, and refugees, the HRW report was not shocking to them anymore.
“We have been documenting, reporting, producing publications about the same issues and other NGOs and CSOs have been doing the same,” she added.
She expressed hope that more NGOs and CSOs will be invited for discussions on improvements and accountability of detention centres.
“Tenaganita has been urging the ministry and Immigration Department to clean the system.
“We have been informed that children in the detention centres have been moved to Baitul Mahabbah. (Although) that is a step forward and promise kept by the ministry, the conditions of these camps remain unspoken and we have no details,” she added.
The Labour Solidarity and Learning Resources Association (LLRC) also urged Saifuddin to validate his statement on the findings being hearsay by allowing regular inspections of immigration detention centres.
Secretary to the coalition of trade unions and workers’ rights NGOs (formerly known as Labour Law Reform Coalition) Gopal Kishnam highlighted the impactful testimony of an Indonesian migrant, Roy, who laboured for a decade in Sabah’s oil palm plantations, contributing to the Malaysian economy without recognition.
“The report reveals how Roy and his brother, Suardi, were detained in 2020 during the onset of Covid-19.
“Despite restricted access of detention centres in Malaysia to periodic inspections by human rights organisations, Roy vividly revealed the tragic reality of losing his brother to torture in the Tawau depot,” he said.
Gopal stressed that the minister’s credibility in disputing these claims rests on granting Suhakam and UNHCR access to an unbiased assessment of detention conditions. - Mkini
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