Kapar MP S Manikavasagam wants an independent body set up to investigate the death of a fisherman in custody.
KUALA LUMPUR: It is becoming a trend for the police to cite “ulcer” as the cause of deaths of detainees in lock-ups, Kapar MP S Manikavasagam said today.
“Previously, it was heart attacks. Now the trend is to cite ulcer as the cause of deaths of detainees,” he said.
Manikavasagam feared that there maybe more deaths in detention this year if nothing is done to address the serious problem. There were 160 deaths in detention from 2002 to 2010.
He said this after handing over a memorandum to the Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar at Bukit Aman here this afternoon.
The memo calls for the police to investigate the cause of death of 26-year-old Khairul Amri Alias at the Sungai Buloh prison on Feb 17.
“The police said the cause of death was ulcer but his mother Zaleha Bahari said that she saw bruises on the back of her son’s body,” said Manikavasagam.
She denied her son was suffering from any sort of ailment, he said.
“We want the police to reveal the reason for arresting Khairul Amri,” said Manikavasagam. “They initially said it was for theft but they changed the charge to a drug-related offence.”
Khairul Amri, a fisherman from Jeram, Kuala Selangor, was detained on Feb 11. His mother visited him on Feb 15. Khairul was found dead in the wee hours of Feb 17.
The memo also called for the speeding up of the formation of the Independent Police Commission on Misconduct and Complaints (IPCMC).
Manikavasagam also wants an independent body set up to investigate the death of Khairul Amri.
He also called for severe action to be taken against the police personnel who caused his death.
