Not for minister, cops to conclude liability for custodial deaths, says NGO

Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail was reported as claiming in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday that the authorities have caused no deaths in police custody since he took office. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: It is not the place of the home minister or the police to determine who is or is not criminally liable for custodial deaths, says an NGO.

Charles Hector, an activist and spokesman for Malaysians Against Death Penalty and Torture (Madpet), said it was the coroner’s responsibility to decide on the cause of such deaths and if anyone is criminally liable.

He was responding to home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail’s claim in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday that the custodial deaths reported at immigration and police detention centres were not due to suicide or assault, but linked to poor health.

“We do not simply want to know what the police, home minister or detaining authorities concluded with regards to deaths in custody.

“We want to know what coroners have decided after inquests on the cause of death and whether anyone is criminally liable,” he said in a statement.

Hector also rapped Saifuddin for his “audacity to proudly say” in Parliament that the authorities had not caused any deaths in police custody since he took office in December 2022.

Saifuddin had attributed these deaths to “health problems” such as Covid-19, tuberculosis and heart issues.

“There were no suicides, no hangings or (cases of) police assault,” he said.

Hector however questioned if the detainees who died of Covid-19 or tuberculosis had been quarantined, saying the police would otherwise have failed in their duty of care.

“Did those who died by reason of illness die in the police lock-up, or in hospital? If they died in the place of detention, then the police officers may have committed a crime,” he said.

Hector said Madpet called for immediate mandatory health check-ups for all detainees upon their arrival at police lock-ups and other detention facilities, not only to quickly determine their state of health, but also to protect other detainees from infectious diseases.