Officials from the United Nations and the Human Rights Commission, or Suhakam, clarified that they had not visited any Sabah immigration detention camps as reported by a local daily today.

According to a report in the New Straits Times , Federal Special Task Force director for Sabah Mohd Ghazali Ahmad said officials from the two agencies and the Philippine government had visited the three Sabah camps in Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Tawau and found them to be satisfactory.

"Officials from the UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) visited the centres and they were satisfied with what they saw," Mohd Ghazali was quoted as saying.

According to him, representatives from Suhakam and the Philippine government had also visited the camps and none of them complained about the condition and treatment given to the detainees.

However, UNHCR protection officer Shinji Kubo said the report was likely to be a "mistake", while a Suhakam official said the report was "wrong".

"They must have a reason to say something like that. We have had close cooperation with Sabah authorities in terms of training but this does not include any investigation of conditions in the camps," said Kubo during a telephone interview.

No recent visits

Kubo said that UNHCR officials had visited at least one detention camp in the past but their visits had been in relation to cases where asylum seekers or refugees had been arrested by Malaysian authorities and held in such camps.

"We sometimes visit these camps to see our clients. But the last time I went to the Sandakan camp was two years ago in September 2000. I do not recall making any statements about it," he clarified.

Meanwhile, a Suhakam official from the commission's headquarters said the report was wrong because none of its commissioners had visited the Sabah camps. He added that the commission had also checked with its office in Sabah.

"None of our commissioners were recorded to have visited the holding centres," said the official who requested anonymity.

This was confirmed by the officer-in-charge of Suhakam's Sabah office Japiril Suhaimin who clarified, "We visited a prison in Keningau but we have never visited any of the immigration camps."

However, Japiril, expressed doubts over the claims by the Philippine media on the deaths of children due to poor hygiene in the detention camps.

"(The claims) are not true. From what we know here, there had never been deaths in the camps," he said.

He added that the media was likely to have confused the situation in the camps with the deaths of several Indonesians in the Indonesian border town of Nunukan (photo).

The Philippine ambassador to Malaysia could not be contacted for comments.

Diplomatic rows

The Malaysian government had been embroiled in diplomatic rows with neighbouring Indonesia and Philippines over alleged poor treatment of illegal immigrants during the mass repatriation exercises carried out by the authorities.

The issue raised protests in the Philippines after the country's media reported that at least seven children have died due to cramped and unhygienic conditions in Sabah detention camps.

Earlier, Indonesian government officials had also condemned Malaysia's laws allowing for whipping of illegal immigrants as "inhumane". The matter sparked a war of words between leaders on both sides.

Indonesian labour activists had also said that 24 persons have died because of overcrowded conditions in temporary settlements in Nunukan for migrant workers deported from Malaysia.

Malaysian officials have defended the move to evict illegal immigrants by saying that ample warning had been given for undocumented persons to leave the country before new immigration laws took effect this month.

Malaysia had also claimed that the reports in the Philippines were inaccurate since no deaths had been recorded by immigration camp officials.

However, Philippines Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said Filipino diplomats had established that "two infants had died of dehydration and pulmonary diseases and many others bore signs of weakness and disease due to lack of food and clean water" at Malaysian holding centers.