Malaysian police guilty of rights abuses: Inquiry
Malaysian police guilty of rights abuses: Inquiry
KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Malaysia's police were guilty of
violating human rights and "cruel and inhuman" treatment of
detainees after a mass anti-government protest last November, a
top-level inquiry found Monday.
The government-backed Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, in
a 66-page report of its first public inquiry since it was
established in April last year, found police used excessive force
against protesters.
Water cannon and teargas were brought to bear on some 5,000
supporters of jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim gathered on
the Kesas highway near Kuala Lumpur on Nov. 5 and 116 people were
detained.
Police had declared a planned rally in support of Anwar
illegal and blocked access to the venue, sparking the
demonstration led by key opposition leaders including Anwar's
wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
Some detainees later complained to the commission -- known by
its Malay acronym Suhakam -- of police brutality and a three-
member panel began the inquiry in December.
"The panel is clearly of the view that there were several
violations of human rights arising from the Kesas highway
incident," the head of the panel, former chief justice Anuar
Zainal Abidin, told a press conference.
He cited the use of force on demonstrators, confiscating and
causing damage to private property, causing injury to detainees
and a delay in providing medical aid to them.
The human rights commission, which interviewed 16 police
officials, said it had not pinpointed the officers involved in
the alleged abuses, but stressed that police had committed
offenses including "the cruel and inhuman treatment of
detainees."
"The agency responsible for the human rights violations is the
police, (but) no individuals have been identified, apart from two
officers who were named for kicking a car," the report said.
"The agency responsible for the human rights violations is the
police," it said.
"The panel finds that the treatment of persons detained was
cruel and inhuman."
Anuar blamed the violations on "total denial and domination
action," a police term referring to steps taken to gain total
control of a situation.
The panel said it was "extremely disturbed" that special
branch police later gathered security intelligence by questioning
detainees on matters unrelated to the alleged offence they were
held for.
It voiced concern over "misuse of police bail for an
indefinite period" and said those not charged within a month
should be released unconditionally.
The panel said it was not an offense to wear a tee-shirt
bearing a picture of Anwar, and criticized police for detaining a
17-year-old girl for five days on that basis.
It said an attack on a plainclothes police officer at the time
was probably "orchestrated to turn an otherwise peaceful
gathering into a violent one."
Meanwhile, lawyers have filed a court application seeking to
free the son of the spiritual leader of Malaysia's opposition
Islamic party detained under a security law, an official said
Monday.
A 'habeas corpus' application was submitted Sunday to a high
court in eastern Kelantan state to challenge the arrest of Nik
Adli Nik Abdul Aziz under the Internal Security Act (ISA), said
Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) youth chief Mahfuz Omar.
The hearing has been fixed for Sept. 5, the Sun newspaper
reported.
Nik Adli, 34, is a teacher at a religious school in Kelantan
and the son of Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, PAS's influential
spiritual leader and Kelantan chief minister.
He was among 10 people arrested earlier this month under the
ISA, which allows indefinite detention without trial, on
suspicion of being members of the so-called "Malaysian Mujahideen
Group" waging a "holy war."