Suaram says Home Ministry’s custodial death figures misleading

[superadmin]

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 — Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) has disputed the data provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) on deaths in police custody in a parliamentary reply last week.

Suaram executive director Sevan Doraisamy said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin’s parliamentary reply on Sept 15 stated that six custodial deaths occurred in the year to date until August whereas the group has observed at least seven cases.

“We are confused as to how the MoHA has recorded the amount of deaths in custody. This is because, based on the given answer, the stated amount does not include a number of deaths that are evidently instances of deaths in custody.

“The death of Sivabalan Subramaniam as soon as he was arrested by the police from IPD Gombak and the death of Umar Faruq who passed away in custody of IPD Klang Selatan, are examples of these missing cases,” he said in a statement today.


- More -