A memorandum from an undergraduate students group, containing three different cases of human rights violation, was today submitted to Suhakam, Malaysia's human rights commission.

The group, which calls itself Undergraduates Solidarity Malaysia (SMM) first highlighted the case of two University Malaya (UM) students who were charged with property vandalism at their campus.

NONE They were said to have scrawled derogatory graffiti about first lady Rosmah Mansor.

They claimed that their human rights were violated during the arrest and interrogation by the police.

The eight members of SMM handed a memorandum to Suhakam commissioner Siva Subramaniam.

The memo also asked the commission to take action on the complaints that touched on police ethics and professional conduct.

It stated that when the police went to Mohamad Izuddin Helmi Mohd Zaini and Muhammad Syahrul Deen Mohd Rosli' house to arrest them on a vandalism charge, they failed to provide proper identification and a warrant for the arrest.

Mohd Shafie Hashim, an exco of the Public Relations and Current Issues section of UM's Islamic Students Society (PMIUM), said that when the duo asked for identification, the policemen flashed their guns that were at their waist.

He also claimed that the police did not inform the detainees' family of the arrest and this was a denial of the right to defence and justice.

Shafie was speaking on behalf of the duo, who were absent during the one hour meeting at Suhakam headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

Shazni Munir Mohd Ithnin, PMIUM president, who was called to assist in police investigation, claimed that there was an agenda behind the police interrogation.

"The police asked me questions that were not related to the charge but to my comments on Teoh Beng Hock's death, the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the 1Malaysia concept," Munir said.

Yet another case of abuse

Also present at the Suhakam office were Ong Jing Cheng and Yap Heng Lung, members of student activist group Malaysia Youth and Students Democratic Movement (Dema).

The two claimed that police arrested them and detained them for two-days for allegedly trespassing on UM campus earlier this month. The charge comes under section 447 of the Penal Code.

NONE Yap claimed that the police arrested them without any reasons, purely based on the claims made by UM security officers.

They were alleged to have trespassed into the Academy of Islamic Studies (API), "where non-Malays are not allowed".

"We had provided full cooperation to the plainclothes police, but they refused to take our statements. Instead they took us to the Jalan Duta Magistrates Court to apply for a court order to extend the period of detention to two days," he said.

The duo was released on July 14 from police custody without any charges preferred.

Counsel denied, justice denied

Also included in the memorandum was a July 17 case where police arrested seven undergraduates for holding an illegal assembly to hand a protest note to the Thailand Embassy demanding a stop to the killing of Muslims in south of Thailand.

NONE Three were detained overnight at the Sentul district police station, three at Kepong and one at Dang Wangi.

Lee Song Yong, SMM secretary, and one of those arrested, claimed that the police had used excessive force on female student Aisyah Jamilah Wan Ahmad,

"Those detained at Sentul were not allowed to meet their lawyers while in custody despite cooperating fully with the police," Lee said.

"The lawyers were made to wait outside the police station for a long time," he added.

Both Yap and Lee said that the sanitary conditions at the police lock up was atrocious and there was insufficient water, food and cramped as there were16 to 20 people detained in one room.

Suhakam's response

Siva asked the students for further information and proof such as videos recorded during July 17 assembly to be sent to him before he could carry out further investigations.

According to Siva, a royal commission had previously brought up the issues regarding cleanliness in lock ups, and the crowded conditions when many drug addicts were arrested and put into one cell.

"Therefore Suhakam has suggested that drug addicts be separated from other detainees," Siva said.

"Apart from that, we will look into other human rights violation claimed in the memorandum," he added.