ALOR STAR – A Rohingya community leader has appealed to the government for clemency towards the Sg Bakap immigration detention depot escapees, urging that they not be prosecuted if they surrender to the authorities.
Mohd Noor Abu Bakar, a committee member of the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organisation Malaysia (Merhrom), also called on those who had fled and are still at large to voluntarily turn themselves in.
“We appeal to the government to show mercy and not prosecute the escapees as they would have realised their mistake by committing an offence in escaping from the detention camp.
“We also urge the remaining 61 escapees to surrender to the authorities in a bid to end the nationwide search as we know it is a burden to the authorities.
“I want them to surrender to police or the immigration authorities. I also advise the people who harbour them to alert the authorities about their whereabouts,” he said.
Noor, who is based in Kedah, said this when he was asked to comment on the latest developments regarding the escapees.
He said whatever their reason may be for their actions, escaping from the custody of the authorities is an offence.
“I was also saddened by the death of six Rohingya migrants who were killed in their bid to escape from the depot,” he added.
Kedah Criminal Investigations Department chief Datuk G. Suresh Kumar had on Thursday said police are intensifying their hunt for the remaining 61 Rohingya detainees who escaped from the Sg Bakap immigration detention depot near Bandar Baharu on April 20.
He said they are hoping to nab the escapees soon.
“There was no arrest in the last several days. However, we hope the remaining escapees will eventually end up in the arms of the law,” he said when asked to comment on the progress made in the search for the escapees.
On April 20, 528 Rohingya detainees fled the Sg Bakap immigration detention depot, and six of them, including children, died after they were hit by a car while crossing the North-South Expressway at KM165 southbound.
Kedah police chief Wan Hassan Wan Ahmad had earlier said police were preparing the names and photos of all the remaining detainees before distributing and releasing them through the mass media.
On April 21, Merhrom president Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani had said that Rohingya refugees subjected to indefinite detention will see their mental health affected, compounding their existing condition as victims of genocide.
He stressed that being survivors of genocide in Myanmar, the Rohingya suffered from trauma and other psychological problems which are untreated most of the time.
Zafar stressed that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Putrajaya need to provide protection and a sound solution for the Rohingya in accordance with international law.
The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia has called on the government to improve its treatment towards the refugees, especially children, following the incident.
Commissioner for children Datuk Noor Aziah Mohd Awal also called for leniency and civic-mindedness from authorities, urging them not to reprimand those eventually re-arrested and to curb fear or hatred being instilled among the locals in Relau nearby the depot centre towards detainees still at large.
She noted that based on observations done in the past, detention centres like the one in Sg Bakap, namely those in Langkawi and Belantik in Kedah, and Lenggeng in Negri Sembilan are usually overcrowded. – The Vibes, May 7, 2022
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