Saifuddin: No death in custody inflicted by authorities since I took office

PARLIAMENT | Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said there has been no death in police custody that was inflicted by the authorities since he took over the office.

According to Saifuddin, all the deaths recorded in prisons, police lockups and Immigration Department depots since 2022 were related to health issues.

In his speech at the Dewan Rakyat today, the minister said there were 24 deaths recorded at police lockups between 2022 and May this year, while 40 inmates had died in prisons.

"The deaths in police lockups were due to health issues such as Covid-19, tuberculosis, heart attack and pneumonia. There were no cases of suicide or death due to injuries inflicted by the police.

"They involved a range of health problems. Most of the cases involved drug addicts who were detained in lockups," Saifuddin said in his winding-up speech on Suhakam’s annual report.

Saifuddin added that 20 deaths were recorded at immigration detention depots between Jan 1 and June 18 this year.

"The 20 incidents involved detainees from Bangladesh, India, Iraq, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia.

"Based on post-mortem reports, all the deaths were caused by health issues," he said.

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