The police will attend a series of lectures on human rights to be organised by the Human Rights Commission, said Suhakam chairman Musa Hitam after a meeting with the top brass led by Inspector General of Police Norian Mai this afternoon.

"One of the commissioners will give lectures on human rights to the highest levels of police officers," Musa said, adding that a human rights course will also be given to the other echelons of the police force, and this will be done according to their education level.

Musa considered today's dialogue with the police as "positive". He said that in addition to conducting human rights' courses, regular interactive sessions with the police will be held "to sensitise the police on human rights' issues".

"By sending their highest officers, the police gave their recognition to Suhakam," Musa said.

He added that both sides got acquainted with one another during the dialogue and had sought to better understand each others' roles.

Among the issues discussed in the dialogue were the rights to peaceful assembly, individual freedom and the way the police force carry out their duties "to preserve law and order".

Musa told journalists that thus far, the commission had received 132 complaints, of which 101 complaints were protest letters from overseas. However, he said that the (foreign) complaints will be given a lower priority.

"What we do is we have a register of each and every one of the complaints and Harun Hashim (chairperson of the complaint and inquiry working group) will have to decide which is admissible," Musa said.

"If the group feels it's not admissible, we'll write to them immediately," he added.

When queried by malaysiakini whether today's dialogue with the police discussed the allegations of mistreatment of illegal immigrants under detention, Musa said that they did.

However, he was quick to add that the commission had "the police's assurance that the human rights of the (illegal) immigrants under detention will be respected".

Nevertheless, he refused to acknowledge if the police have indeed admitted to any form of mistreatment or abuse against the detainees.

"The sheer number (of the immigrants) is hard to manage," Musa said. According to him, there is only room for 12,000 illegal immigrants in the detention centres.

Musa said that the need to address the problem of illegal immigrants should not only be at the national level but also the international level. He quoted examples where many countries in the West are also accused of mistreating their illegal immigrants.

Musa added it is "an honour" that many illegal immigrants chose to come to Malaysia.

However, Musa said that the allegations (of the mistreatment of the detained illegal immigrants) remain as "allegations".

"Investigations had been done by the police into every allegation that was brought to their attention," Musa said.

However, when queried by malaysiakini if the commission will also be conducting their own investigation into the matter, commissioner Harun Hashim, who is head of the complaint and inquiry working group, said that no reports on the mistreatment of the illegal immigrants in the detention camps were made to the commission.

"But, if there is (a complaint), there will be an investigation by the commission," he said.

In the "false news" trial of Tenaganita director Irene Fernandez, a number of Bangladeshi witnesses who were former detainees in the illegal immigrants detention camps told the court of gross mistreatment and sexual tortures by the police. ("[#1] Detainees forced to perform sex show[/#] ", May 11)

Meanwhile, Harun also told journalist that the probe on allegations of police brutality during the Black 14 crackdown is "still in process". He said that the commission will decide what is admissible and carry out an investigation based on these complaints.

On freedom of assembly, Musa said that the police are not against it, but they are worried about civil disturbances and the need to preserve public order.

Commissioner Prof Mehrun Siraj said that the commission will conduct a study on the right to peaceful assembly. She added the study will obtain testimonies from members of the public who had problems getting permits to gather peacefully, the police and from other countries.

"We will look into the criteria the police used to give out the permits (for peaceful assembly)," Mehrun said.

"We'll also study what is the meaning of public safety and security according to the police," she added.

The commission will convene again on June 25, where it will have a dialogue with the Bar Council.