Suhakam opens probe into death of tourist in immigration depot

Suhakam is investigating the case of an Indian tourist who died on June 12 after contracting Covid-19 while under the Immigration Department's detention.

In revealing this, commissioner Jerald Joseph also questioned the department's decision to arrest the victim - Zeawdeen Kadar Masdan - for an expired visa when the latter could not apply for an extension due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

"We have just started to look into the case to investigate and meet the relevant parties on the death in custody. (To find out) what happened.

"I think that is another area of worry. Death in custody must always be investigated by forensics to ascertain if the person died of natural causes or caused by other detainees or the personnel or because he was not given adequate health support and facility.

"So we are looking into it now," he told Malaysiakini.

Zeawdeen, 67, from Chennai arrived in Malaysia on March 17 together with his son Jamaludeen and the latter's father-in-law, just a day before Malaysia imposed its partial lockdown, which prevented all cross border travelling in and out of the country in an effort to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

The three were due to return to Chennai three days later but could not do so because of the movement control order (MCO). 

Zeawdeen and his son were detained by the immigration during a raid on the Malayan Mansion building in Masjid India, Kuala Lumpur, on May 1.

Prior to the arrest, Zeawdeen had been cleared of Covid-19 based on a document issued by the Health Ministry. 

However, he tested positive with the novel coronavirus when he was at the Bukit Jalil immigration detention depot and was sent to a temporary hospital designated for Covid-19 patients from May 26 to June 7.

On June 7, the victim was released from the hospital and returned to the depot. On June 11, he was found unconscious and taken to the Canselor Tuanku Muhriz Hospital in Cheras, where he died.

Zeawdeen's family had since entrusted a friend to claim his remains and arrange for the funeral to be carried out in Malaysia.

Family can't afford repatriation

His son Jamaludeen had returned to Chennai before knowing about the death of his father as he had run out of money. 

The family could not afford to repatriate his remains, according to Othuman Mansoor, the friend appointed to arrange Zeawdeen's funeral here.

Meanwhile, Joseph said those who entered Malaysia legally should not have been arrested because their documents lapsed as a result of the lockdown.

"It is unfair that whatever caused by the lockdown was also seen as a criminal act," he said, referring to the arrests of Zeawdeen and others.

He was also surprised with the Immigration's statement that Zeawdeen was arrested because the department was suspicious of his frequent entries into Malaysia.

According to Joseph, such issues should have been dealt with by the department earlier instead of during the pandemic.

"If they came in without a document, or their document was not legal, that is a different story. But (this is the case of people coming in) with legal documents and wanted to extend but they either have no chance to fly out or no chance to seek an extension because of the lockdown.

"Of course, that does not warrant immediate arrest because the pandemic caused this, not their negligence or otherwise. So I was a little bit surprised to hear the immigration saying they are suspicious of these people who came in many times.

"I mean, if you are suspicious of people, you should have done your work a long time ago. You cannot be doing it now during the time of the pandemic, suddenly acting on suspicion," he added.

Joseph was commenting on the statement by immigration director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud on June 19 who said their records showed Zeawdeen made frequent travels in and out of Malaysia since 2017 and that "a real tourist would not perform trips at this frequency".

The human rights commissioner said Suhakam was also surprised by the immigration raids on undocumented migrants during the Covid-19 lockdown.

He said the idea of a health emergency was to prevent overcrowding and spread of infection.

"The danger of infection spreading in a crowded facility like a detention depot is not rocket science. Obviously it can happen because it is crowded.

"You have to make sure viruses are not brought into the depot," he added.

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