Suhakam meets tomorrow on ISA 'torture notes'

The Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) will discuss tomorrow its next course of action on the notes alleging torture of Internal Security Act detainees exposed by Malaysiakini.

The matter will be brought up during the commission's regular meeting, commissioner Muhammad Sha'ani Abdullah said.

"The commission may not make a final decision tomorrow but the complaints division will be able to begin investigations...We will discuss how to go about it," Sha'ani (left) said when contacted.

He said the division in its investigations would need to speak to the victims as well as related parties, such as the police and doctors, to authenticate the claims.

"We can advise the police and Attorney-General's Chambers in terms of prosecution, if there is a basis to the claims."

Suhakam is believed to have been passed the notes last month, when its commissioners visited the Kamunting detention camp to check on detainees who had mounted a hunger strike for freedom.

45 still being held under ISA

Malaysiakini has confirmed that these are the same set of notes said to have been smuggled out by a staff member of the detention camp last month - and passed on to this news portal.

Among others, the notes detail harrowing accounts of torture, including being strapped upside down to a "machine" and then beaten up and having the genitals, burned or smeared with chilli paste or hot oil while they were detained by police.

Contacted on the allegations last week, police spokesperson Ramli Yoosuf said the complaints have been noted and that police were "formulating a response as the matter needs to be referred to the top officials first".

A total of 45 detainees are still being held at the Kamunting camp under the ISA, for alleged involvement in human trafficking, in militant groups such as Jemaah Islamiah and for falsifying documents.

The last of the detainees is expected to be released in 2014