Govt drops appeal on Amri's wife obtaining OSA-classified report

The federal government and the police last week withdrew their bids for the Court of Appeal to deny Amri Che Mat’s wife from having limited access to the classified special task force report into the activist’s enforced disappearance eight years ago.

Counsel Surendra Ananth, who acts for Norhayati Mohd Ariffin, confirmed that the government and police have filed a notice of discontinuance of the appeal before the appellate court concerning the report classified under the Official Secrets Act 1972.

“With the discontinuance of the appeal, Norhayati is set to receive (in a limited capacity) the report,” the lawyer said when contacted this afternoon.

Surendra added that his client’s lawsuit against the government and police is set for trial before the Kuala Lumpur High Court this Thursday.

According to a copy of the notice of discontinuance filed at the Court of Appeal, it is dated Feb 21.

Limited access

On May 9 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court allowed Norhayati’s application for limited access to the OSA-classified report to strengthen her ongoing lawsuit against the police and government over Amri’s enforced disappearance sometime around midnight on Nov 24, 2016.

On June 26, 2019, two months after Suhakam concluded that Amri was a victim of enforced disappearance by the police, the Home Ministry formed a special task force to re-investigate the matter.

However, there was a lack of updates on the report, leading to the civil society group Citizens Against Enforced Disappearance (Caged) in 2021 to urge the government to release the task force’s findings.

The task force was formed during the Pakatan Harapan administration headed by then-prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2019.

Caged’s media statement that urged the release of the findings was issued on April 2, 2021, during Muhyiddin Yassin’s Perikatan Nasional administration.

Following the 15th general election in November 2022, the government is now led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who took over from Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

On April 3, 2019, Suhakam’s public inquiry concluded that Amri and pastor Raymond Koh, who vanished in 2016 and 2017 respectively, were victims of enforced disappearance.

The three-member panel unanimously concluded that the perpetrators were members of the Special Branch from police headquarters Bukit Aman in Kuala Lumpur.

Koh’s family also has an ongoing civil court action against the police and government over the pastor’s enforced disappearance.

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