The Home Secretary said that all deaths in custody recorded since 2022 have been due to health reasons. The Bar Association expressed concern about the claims and called for independent investigations. Between 2011 and 2021, 430 deaths in custody were recorded.
Kuala Lumpur () – The Malaysian Bar Association has criticised Malaysian Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail for his claim that there have been no deaths in custody or in immigration detention centres since he took office. According to the minister, all deaths in custody since 2022 were due to health problems.
Statements about which the Bar Association has expressed concern. “First of all, it is essential to determine whether the detainees died within the detention facility or in a hospital facility. The place of death is important to understand the conditions and care provided to them in the place of detention,” says a statement made to the media.
“We must then examine the adequacy and timeliness of the medical care these individuals received – were they seen promptly by qualified medical professionals and provided with the necessary care without delay? The health and safety of detainees should be a priority and any deficiencies in medical care should be identified and rectified.”
According to the provisions of the Malaysian Penal Code, the task of determining the cause of death of a detained person is exclusively the responsibility of the coroner. In the case of death in custody, an inquest is required.
This practice was established by a resolution adopted by the Malaysian Bar Association at its 76th General Assembly in 2022. The rule states that the coroner should be able to inspect the scene and the body of the detainee and initiate preliminary investigations. At the same time, police and officials should refrain from making public statements about deaths in custody. For its part, the government should publish annually the data on suspicious deaths, deaths in custody and cases or summaries submitted by the coroner.
“No one should be proud of the fact that there are no suicides or assaults when deaths in custody due to health problems continue to occur. The aim must be to achieve zero deaths in custody,” the Bar Association said.
Speaking at an event to commemorate the victims of custodial deaths in Kuala Lumpur, lawyer M. Visvanathan urged the government to set up a tribunal to investigate custodial deaths. Visvanathan was involved in a case of a death at the Sentul police station in 2009. According to the expert, the tribunals that deal with such cases also deal with other issues. “These deaths must be investigated in a transparent manner to give people confidence,” he added. Visvanathan’s remarks were preceded by those of Ng Yap Hwa, president of the Teoh Beng Hock Association for Democratic Advancement, who also spoke at the event. “There are many cases of custodial deaths, but no investigation is done,” Ng said.
In 2009, Teoh Beng Hock, a former aide to then Selangor chief executive Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found dead on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam just hours after arriving for questioning.
A coroner’s inquest in 2011 returned a verdict of suspicious death. His family appealed and three years later the Court of Appeal quashed the verdict and ruled that Beng Hock’s death had been caused by multiple injuries resulting from unlawful acts committed by persons unknown.
To date, the saga of Teoh Beng Hock is still not over, as his family and civil society members continue to demand answers about his death, but the authorities refuse to heed their protests. On Sunday, Beng Hock’s family and friends, as well as civil society members, held a memorial service for him and other victims of deaths in custody. It was the commemoration of the fifteenth anniversary of Beng Hock’s death.
A study by the Law Enforcement Integrity Commission recorded 430 deaths in custody in Malaysia between 2011 and 2021.
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