Hrw Asks To Meet Saifuddin After Raya

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Human Rights Watch deputy director for Asia Bryony Lau said she was willing to meet home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail after Hari Raya Aidilfitri.PETALING JAYA: Human Rights Watch (HRW) has asked to meet home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail to discuss various issues after Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Bryony Lau, its deputy director for Asia, said.
“HRW has not yet been able to meet with the home minister, but we have consistently communicated our willingness to do so.
“We look forward to an opportunity to meet the minister after the Raya holidays,” Lau told FMT.
She said Saifuddin’s office reached out on Monday to propose a meeting today.
“However, we were not available and we requested an alternative date later in April, reiterating our willingness to meet,” she said, without stating why today’s proposed meeting could not go ahead.
Earlier today, Saifuddin claimed HRW was not prepared to meet him to discuss its report on alleged human rights violations and abuses at immigration detention centres in Malaysia.
Saifuddin said he had sent a letter inviting the international rights group to a meeting.
“Until today, HRW has said it is not prepared to meet with me,” he told reporters here, adding that HRW had only responded to his invite via WhatsApp.
“Yet, I will wait until they are prepared as such an engagement is crucial,” he said.
Saifuddin said he needed HRW to cooperate with him on the report, in the event he had overlooked any of the information in the document.
Last month, HRW released a report based on interviews with 43 former detainees.
The 60-page report highlighted allegations of appalling living conditions, lack of medical care, and instances of torture and abuse, which had supposedly resulted in “many” deaths.
The report claimed that women and children were also subjected to abuse and neglect, with more than 1,400 children detained, two-thirds of whom were unaccompanied or separated from their families and often detained with unrelated adults.
Saifuddin questioned the credibility of the report, raising doubts about HRW’s sources, and called on the group to specify in which centres the alleged abuses had taken place. - FMT

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