Parents relate nightmare of children held under EO

No parent expects to see his or her child taken away at unearthly hours and detained without any chance of a court appearance. Such a experience can be shattering for the whole family.

More so when the very authorities who are charged with upholding the law had assaulted their children while under detention to force them to confess to crimes they had not committed.

This is the agony that hit three parents when police came knocking on their doors and picked up their children between the ages of 19 and 21 under the Emergency Ordinance (Public Order and Prevention of Crime) 1969, which allows detention without trial.

Even a best student from the Pahang Skills Development Centre who recorded a CGPA of 3.53 was not spared. Mohd Faiz Sarparim, 21, was picked up in full view of his mother Hamizai Ismail, during the first day of the fasting month last year from their Kemaman home.

Another parent, Tuan Wok Badariah Tuan Mat (right) , also from Kemaman, saw his 20-year-old son being dragged out from their house in the early morning also during last Ramadhan, the excuse given being that he was to be a witness in a motorcycle theft case, but only to be detained under the EO.

A third couple, lorry driver Abu Samah Ab Rahim, 49, and Maznah Yusof, 41, from Selayang were caught in a similar predicament when their second child Muhamad Arif Abu Samah was picked up from their home on March 8, this year under similar circumstances.

All three parents related their experience at a press conference organised by Lawyers for Liberty and Suaram today, and deplored such high-handed tactics employed by the authorities to detain their children without trial. None of them, they said had past criminal records.

All were unanimous in saying that if their children were guilty, they should have been charged in court but they were remanded by the police instead, and if the police failed to back up their case they would not hesitate to fall back on the EO to further extend their detention.

There are cases of the EO is being used to detain people for up to 10 years and as a result forcing them to spend their productive years behind bars.

According to Suaram's E Nalini, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention 2010 report, between 5,000 to 6,000 youths their age are being detained under the EO. And these are just the reported ones, what about those that go unreported, she asked.

Hamizai: Perseverance pays off

Hamizai (right) had persevered and was one of the fortunate ones to see her son Mohd Faiz being released in January, without actual proof produced by the authorities to show that her son had been involved in stealing motorcycles.

"It hurts my heart to see my son arrested for something for which he is innocent or for which they had no proof. They told me that he was being remanded but after the remand ended they slapped the EO on him.

"We do not know the law but I still believe my son is innocent as he was a top student at the Pahang Skills Development Centre where he was taking a diploma course in electrical engineering.

"He would not tell me whether he had been assaulted while under detention where the authorities forced him to admit to the crime, but his friends told me," she said.

The determined mother said she managed to relate her problems to lawyer Latheefa Koya, the PKR legal bureau chief, and seek her help.

"They wanted me to sign various documents without even telling me what they were , but Latheefa advised me against signing. My son also told me that there are those detained who were released after their family allegedly agreed to pay RM10,000.

"I could not afford such money and why should I pay as my son did nothing wrong?" he said.

Hamizai said her son's cellmate suddenly informed her that her son was to appear before the detention board to argue his case and secure his release.

She said there was little information from the board on the sitting but when the day approached, she brought her sister to testify and the board consisting of three retired civil servants, came to the conclusion the allegations against her son were false and released him.

"However, my son had lost two years of his life as a result of the detention. He resumed his studies at the centre but his loan was stopped. These are the problems and predicament we face.

"My advise to parents facing such a predicament is for them to engage lawyers. Do not let them be detained for too long and never agree to sign the 60-day detention order," she said, adding that the authorities should review such laws.

Hamizai is now providing emotional support to Badariah who is trapped in a similar predicament.

Latheefa (left) said there could be many others detained under the EO who are also innocent but with no legal avenues through which to seek their freedom.

"The police are picking up such teenagers and youths just to improve their statistics without actual proof of the crime. If they are guilty charge them in court under the Penal Code, why the need to detain them without proof?" she said.

'Police came barging in'

Abu Samah (left) , in recalling his experiences, said police came knocking at 5am on March 8.

"We were all asleep when they knocked hard on the door. I opened the door to check and two officers came barging in, showing their blue authority cards. My wife, who also awoke, was also surprised.

"I asked what was wrong and what it was all about. It was only then that one of them said that my son is being arrested under suspicion of being a suspected motorcycle thief.

"However, all of us do not believe this as he does not have any criminal record and had just worked one month as a despatch clerk and was saving his money to further his studies," he said.

Maznah, who cried during the press conference, said if her son had been a thief he would have led an extravagant life, but they (the parents) bought his clothes and all his necessities and he even asked them for money.

She said that police gave them the run-around - his son was first detained in Gombak, brought to the Kepong police station and then Jinjang, and also Bukit Jalil and now in Rawang.

"On March 23, she said she received an anonymous phone call asking her to bring her son's clothes and pay RM15,000 to the police to secure Arif's release. We did not have the money but when I tried to call the same number, I could not reach the person.

"To make matters worse although Arif was arrested on March 8, the authorities said they arrested my son only on March 24 and he was picked-up at Batu Caves. But actually it was from our home in Selayang," she said.

Maznah (left) also recalled that on one of her visits, her son related to her that he had been assaulted by the police to confess to the crime.

"My son said they used a piece of wood, wires and an iron rod to hit him on his feet. He had asked for medical treatment but it was denied," she wept, asking how the authorities could do this to her son.

"My son was not involved in anything and was suddenly picked up," she said.

Nalini advised parents hit by similar trouble to seek legal help or contact Suaram and not to allow their children be subjected to a roadshow, ie being brought to one police station to another to be detained.

She and Latheefa also called for the abolishment of the EO as it is like the draconian Internal Security Act which, too, provides for detention without trial.

VIDEO | 13.54 mins