Inquiry call over treatment of Acehnese

Inquiry call over treatment of Acehnese

MALAYSIA: Amnesty International on Monday called for an investigation into reports that camp guards at a Malaysian detention center beat up seven Acehnese asylum seekers for refusing to be repatriated.

The seven, including a woman whose 13-month-old child was also held at the Langkap Detention Center, were "at risk of being forcibly returned" to the troubled Indonesian province where they may face serious human rights violations, the group said in a statement.

The detainees were believed to be among a group of more than 200 Acehnese asylum seekers arrested by police outside the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Kuala Lumpur in August while waiting to lodge asylum claims, it said.

The declaration of martial law in Aceh in May had led to renewed military operations against separatist rebels and alleged cases of extrajudicial executions, "disappearances" and torture, the human rights group said. -- AFP