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On Tuesday May 20, Madam Sharimila a/p Uthia Kumar, wife of detainee Sanjeev Kumar Krishnan accompanied by Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh, Chairman of Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA (GMI) and this writer, as representative to the Bar Council Human Rights Committee, to the Dang Wangi IPD in Jalan Stadium, Kuala Lumpur to submit the follow-up Police Report concerning the physical, sexual and emotional torture received by Sanjeev Kumar, a detainee at the Kamunting Detention Camp during his 60 days initial detention there in March 2008.

An initial police report had been filed by Sanjeev Kumar at the Taiping Police Station in April 2008, after he was warded at the Taiping Hospital upon receiving such brutal treatment in the camp, which included being forced to drink urine, eat stale food and being subjected to physical abuse such as being sodomized by a broom. The first report seems to be left unheeded. Sanjeev is now semi-paralysed and wheel chair bound, and has still not received the required medical attention.

The purpose of these follow-up Reports was to draw attention to the plight of Sanjeev Kumar and other detainees at the Kamunting Detention Camp who apart from being the brunt of all kinds of inhumane treatment at the camp, also receive little or no medical attention when they require it.

GMI also placed emphasis on the ongoing 6-Year ISA Campaign, which sought to lobby the Government to abolish the ISA and close the Kamunting Detention Camp and have all ISA detainees formerly charged for any crimes alleged against them so that they may be given the chance to defend themselves, instead of being incarcerated for an indefinite period of time. GMI’s Campaign is aptly named the 6-Year ISA campaign since a number of detainees have been detained at the Kamunting Detention Camp in excess of 6 years already, without ever being formally charged or found guilty in a Court of law of crime for which they have allegedly committed. The Campaign consists of a letter writing campaign, an online petition campaign and a postcard campaign, details of which are available here.

In support of the 6-year ISA Campaign, the Bar Council Human Rights Committee in line with its ongoing work to push for the abolishment of all Detention Without Trial Provisions including ISA, are organising fortnightly rotational trips to the Kamunting Detention Camp for the purpose of:-

i) monitoring the status (health & general wellbeing) of the detainees;

ii) providing any legal assistance to the detainees;

iii) monitoring the conditions of the Kamunting Detention Camp and treatment received by the detainees;

iv) lessening/relieving the family members of this arduous task (it is documented that family members of detainees suffer emotional trauma upon making such visits, plus the fact of visits for non-Perak based family members can be very costly), i.e. when the family members can only afford to visit their loved ones say once in every 2 months, having fortnightly visits by the Members of the Bar will enable the detainees to maintain the contact of the detainees with the outside world;

v) to raise awareness on the plight of the detainees;

vi) to raise awareness on Detention Without Trial (DWT) laws and their implications in law & practice; and

vii) to educate others (including members of the Bar) on the ISA and DWT laws.

Members of the Bar who are interested to participate in these organised trips are invited to submit their details to syamsuriatina@gmail.com or oysim@malaysianbar.org.my.

The 3rd and most recent trip to the Kamunting Detention Camp was held on Wednesday 21 May 2008, which involved Bar members Dipendra Harshad Rai (KL), Siti Zabedah Kasim (KL) and Ngan Siong Hin (Perak). They reported having met 4 members of the Hindraf and a number of other ISA detainees held under allegations of being members of the Jemaah Islamiah, Darul Islam, and Gerakan Pembebasan Selatan Thai. Team leader Dipendra has submitted a report of the conditions of the detainees and the camp for further action by the Human Rights Committee.

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