Ex Prisoner Pm Urged To Protect Sosma Detainees From Abuse

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In January, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he did not want Najib Abdul Razak to suffer as he did in prison.
Now, a group representing the families of Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) detainees want Anwar to protect others being held in prison from abuses as well.
Yayasan Tamilar Kural Malaysia, together with the detainees’ families, submitted a memorandum at Parliament today urging the prime minister to intervene.
The foundation’s chairperson, Urimai deputy chairperson David Marshel, said only Anwar could understand what they are going through.
“We believe, because Anwar has languished in prison and has said that he too was abused in prison.
“So we hope the prime minister can look into the wellbeing of the rakyat who are being abused.
“We ask the prime minister to intervene and not trust the home minister (Saifuddin Nasution Ismail) and other ministers,” David said at a press conference outside Parliament today.
On Feb 8, the family members of 32 men held under Sosma launched a hunger strike in front of the Sungai Buloh Prisons Complex.
They demanded that the government and prison authorities allow them to visit and check on the detainees, who were said to have also started a hunger strike inside the prison.
‘Saifuddin lied’
Then, on Feb 12, a woman who wished to be known as Prem Sri - the wife of one of the detainees - lodged a police report alleging assault on her spouse in the prison complex.
Saifuddin denied the man was abused, saying he was weakened as a result of the hunger strike instead.
Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution IsmailPrem, however, accused the home minister of lying, insisting she personally saw her husband’s injuries.
Anwar has been imprisoned three times.
The first detention - without trial - was under the Internal Security Act and lasted 20 months.
He was then imprisoned from 1999 to 2004 and again from 2015 to 2018 on sodomy-related charges. He was granted a full pardon in 2018.
While he was in police custody in 1998, he was beaten by then police chief Rahim Noor.
In a January interview with UK-based Financial Times, Anwar stressed that he did not want Najib - who is in prison for corruption charges - to suffer while incarcerated.
“I went through that hell also, and solitary confinement. I wasn’t given any outside food except for the prison food.
“But do I need then to treat Najib in the same manner? I say no, I mean, he was prime minister,” he said in the interview. - Mkini

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