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©New Straits Times (Used by permission)

KUALA LUMPUR: A Sessions Court judge in Sabah has shot down claims by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) that magistrates do not act humanely in handling immigration cases.

Kota Kinabalu judge Duncan Sikodol said, contrary to what was claimed by Suhakam commissioner Datuk Siva Subramaniam, it was common practice in all Sabah courts to adjourn a case for one week to allow for investigations.

Sikodol was responding to an article published in the New Straits Times on Thursday headlined, "Suhakam wants to educate magistrates on human rights".

Siva Subramaniam had said that Suhakam would conduct human rights awareness programmes for magistrates in the country to make them act more humanely in the handling of cases.

He said the inhumane handling of cases by some magistrates had resulted in Malaysians being mistakenly imprisoned and sent to immigration depots.

Sikodol said after the officers investigate, the court would fix a trial date if the accused was found to be an illegal immigrant.

"It will then be incumbent upon the prosecution to prove that the accused person is an illegal immigrant," he said.

He also refuted Siva Subramaniam's claim that there were underaged children between the ages of 12 and 17 at depots in Menggatal and Sandakan who claimed they were born in Malaysia.

"As a matter of practice and policy, the police and Immigration Department do not charge suspected illegal immigrants who are below 18 years.

"After investigation and determination of their legal status, they are deported without being referred to the courts."

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