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KUALA LUMPUR – Bukit Aman has launched an investigation into the death of a 63-year-old man at the Taiping district police headquarters (IPD) in Perak this morning.
Standards Compliance Department (JIPS) director Datuk Azri Ahmad said his unit will be carrying out the investigation over the death of the suspect.
He added that the JIPS was notified of the death at 11am today.
The deceased was a temporary detainee from Taiping prison who was charged on April 18, 2021 under Sections 379A and 324 of the Penal Code for vehicle theft and grievous bodily harm.
“The suspect was placed in the IPD Taiping lockup after the first mention of the case on January 11 and while awaiting the following mention on January 14.”
In December, rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) said with 19 documented cases, the number of deaths in custody by 2021 alone is the highest the nation has seen in recent years.
In its Human Rights Report Malaysia 2021, Suaram added that the discrepancy in the number of custodial deaths in prisons between 2020 and 2021 is too large to be ignored, as the difference between the two figures given amounted to nearly 300 lives.
Suaram’s Right to Justice coordinator Mohammad Alshatri called the documented cases of deaths in custody “perplexing and unacceptable”, adding that Suaram has repeatedly demanded for the Home Ministry to produce reports detailing the statistics regarding deaths in all custodial centres.
“Such information must be disclosed publicly. There is no need to be secretive over this matter,” he said, adding that the reports are also necessary to clarify inconsistencies in parliamentary answers from Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin. – The Vibes, January 13, 2022