Kuala Lumpur lawyers call out government over prison deaths

The Home Minister claimed that all deaths in detention recorded since 2022 were due to health reasons. The Bar Council expressed concern over the claims and called for independent investigations. Between 2011 and 2021, 430 deaths in custody were recorded.

Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews) - Malaysia's Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has been criticised by the Lawyers' Council for claiming that there have been no deaths in custody or in migrant detention centres since he took office. According to the minister, all deaths in custody that have occurred since 2022 have been due to health issues.

Statements towards which the Bar Council expressed concern. ‘First, it is essential to determine whether the inmates died within the detention facilities or in a hospital setting. The location of their death is significant in understanding the conditions and care provided within the detention environment,’ reads a statement released to the media.

‘Next, we must examine the adequacy and timeliness of the medical care these individuals received. Were they promptly attended to by qualified medical professionals and was the necessary treatment administered without delay? The health and safety of detainees should be a priority and any lack of medical care must be identified and rectified."

Under the provisions of the Criminal Code of Malaysia, the task of determining the cause of death of a detainee rests solely with the medical examiner. In the case of a death in custody, an investigation is required.

This practice was established by a resolution adopted by the Malaysian Bar Council during its 76th General Assembly in 2022. The rule stipulates that the coroner may visit the site and body of the detainee and initiate preliminary investigations. At the same time, police and officials should refrain from making public statements about deaths in custody. Instead, the government should annually publish data on suspicious deaths, deaths in custody and cases presented by the coroner.

"No one should be proud of the absence of suicides or assaults when deaths in custody continue to occur due to health problems. The goal must be to achieve zero deaths in custody,’ said the Bar Council.

Lawyer M. Visvanathan also urged the government to establish a court dedicated to the investigation of deaths in custody at a remembrance event for victims of custody deaths in Kuala Lumpur. Visvanathan was involved in the death case at Sentul police station in 2009. According to the legal expert, the courts dealing with these cases also deal with other issues. ‘These deaths must be investigated in a transparent manner to give people confidence,’ he added. Visvanathan's remarks followed those of Ng Yap Hwa, president of the ‘Teoh Beng Hock Association for Democratic Advancement’, who also spoke at the event. ‘There are many cases of deaths in custody, but no investigation,’ said Ng.

In 2009, Teoh Beng Hock, the former assistant to then Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on the fifth floor of Shah Alam's Plaza Masalam, a few hours after arriving for questioning.

A coroner's inquest in 2011 issued a verdict of suspicious death. His family appealed: three years later, the Court of Appeals annulled the verdict and ruled that Beng Hock's death was caused by multiple injuries, the result of unlawful acts by unknown persons.

To this day, the saga of Teoh Beng Hock has not yet ended, while his family and members of civil society continue to demand answers about his death, but the authorities refuse to accommodate their protests. On Sunday, Beng Hock's family and friends, as well as members of civil society, held a memorial service for him and other victims of death in custody. It was the commemoration of the 15th year since Beng Hock's death.

A study by the Law Enforcement Integrity Commission recorded 430 custodial deaths in Malaysia between 2011 and 2021.