Rights groups slam Saifuddin over custodial deaths remark

Two rights groups slammed Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail over his claim that there had not been deaths in custody caused by authorities since he came to office since he took office over a year ago.

Eliminating Death and Abuse in Custody Together (Edict) pointed out that only the Coroner's Court can decide on that.

Its chairperson M Visvanathan said the minister was “talking rubbish” and lacked appreciation of the country's laws.

“No inquests were conducted. Who mandated the minister to state the reasons and causes for the deaths? He is unfit to be a home minister.

"It is infuriating as the decision is with the Coroner's Court, not him," the lawyer for many families of custodial deaths court actions told Malaysiakini this afternoon.

Visvanathan asked how many custodial death cases that Saifuddin quoted had inquests conducted and verdicts issued.

"The minister is being most irresponsible to the families of detainees," Visvanathan said.

Saifuddin told the Dewan Rakyat yesterday that all the deaths recorded in prisons, police lockups and Immigration Department depots since 2022 were related to health problems.

He revealed that there were 24 deaths recorded at police lockups between 2022 and May this year due to health issues, such as Covid-19, tuberculosis, heart attack and pneumonia, while 40 inmates died in prisons.

None of them were due to suicide or injuries inflicted by the police, he added.

‘State the fact’

Malaysians against Death Penalty and Torture (Madpet) questioned the veracity of Saifuddin's claims in Parliament.

“Is he relying on police or detaining authorities' investigations, when at the very least, he should not be saying such things until the coroner knows his or her findings?

“Saifuddin (should) just state the facts as to (the) number of deaths in custody, and not prematurely conclude whether the police are criminally responsible or not,” its spokesperson Charles Hector said in a statement today.

Hector pointed out that detainees dying of illness under custody could raise questions about the authorities' culpability via negligence.

"Were the detainees who died of Covid-19 and/or tuberculosis quarantined? If not, the police would have failed in their duty of care with regard to other detainees.

"Did those who die of illness succumb while in police lockup, or at the hospital? If they died in the place of detention, then a crime may have been committed by the police officers. Why were they (the detainees) not sent to the hospital?" he asked.

Mandatory health checks

Hector stressed that health check-ups should be mandatory for detainees so that diseases can be swiftly detected and treated.

It should not be on the police to determine detainees’ health condition when they display symptoms and they should instead be sent to the hospital for proper assessment, he emphasised.

On that note, Hector urged Putrajaya to ratify the United Nations Convention against Torture (UNCAT) - a move Saifuddin had also dismissed in Parliament yesterday.

"One must remember that Malaysia can place conditions/reservations when ratifying or signing a UN convention, maybe by excluding the syariah courts.

"We must ratify UNCAT now, amendments to the law can always come later. It is time to end torture in the penal system, in schools and Malaysia," Hector said.

COMMENT | Death penalty must go

Rights group demands inquiry into fatal police shooting of 5

Widow seeks RM1m from police, govt over husband's custodial death