SUHAKAM INQUIRY | Perlis police have cleared a man named "Rozain" who was previously identified by an inquiry witness as having allegedly admitted to the abduction of activist Amri Che Mat.

This was after police confirmed that there was no "direct evidence" that could link "Rozain" to Amri's abduction, according to inspector Khor Yi Shuen, who is the case's primary investigating officer.

"There is no direct evidence he was involved in this case. There are too many hearsays from the witnesses," Khor told the panel led by Suhakam commissioner Mah Weng Kwai.

Perlis Hope activist Faisol Abdul Rahman, who was the inquiry's third witness, previously testified that he was informed a man named "Rozain" had allegedly admitted to Amri's abduction and the information was relayed to Khor. 

At the time, Mah in response to Faisol, had cautioned that his testimony was based on "multiple hearsays" through three other individuals identified as Hafiz, Hisham and Azri.

In his testimony today, Khor said he first received the information about "Rozain" in April last year from two of Amri's friends, identified as Mukhriz and Aizat.

"I did my investigations and found Rozain in December last year. No evidence to link him to Amri's abduction," he said.

Khor added that he had met with all the individuals named in the chain of hearsays and discovered conflicting statements among them.

Along the way, Khor said he had in October last year recorded a statement from another man named Rozain or nicknamed "Shine", and similarly cleared him as a possible suspect.

"I saw that Shine was semi-paralysed. He had difficulties walking since 2015.

"His name was 'plucked' (mentioned) just like that," said Khor this morning.

In the afternoon session, the inquiry resumed with questions from counsel for Amri's family.

Khor will continue to take the stand tomorrow for cross-examination by police observer R Munusamy, who is the Sentul police chief.

Suhakam is currently investigating whether the disappearances of Amri and two others were “enforced or involuntary” as defined by the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED).

This is defined as the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the state or by persons, or groups of persons acting with the authorisation, support or acquiescence of the state.

The instrument was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2006. Malaysia is not a signatory to the ICPPED.

The two other disappearances being investigated are that of pastor Joshua Hilmy and his wife Ruth Sitepu.

The commission had previously been investigating pastor Raymond Koh’s disappearance but was forced to suspend proceedings when former Uber driver Lam Chang Nam was charged in court for abducting Koh.