The Enforcement Agencies Integrity Commission (EAIC) has refuted claims of wrongful deaths caused by physical abuse by staff members at the Juru immigration detention depot, after a spot-check it jointly conducted with the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam). However, the EAIC did note the dilapidated buildings and facilities at the depot, overcrowding and 19 CCTVs which had been out of service since 2014. "The allegations of detainee deaths from physical abuse as reported are false and without basis," EAIC chairperson Yaacob Md Sam said in a statement. The EAIC was responding to a news report about the alleged abuse published in the Cambodian newspaper, The Cambodia Daily, on Aug 17. The report, which was later picked up by the local media, claimed that the detainees at the depot, located near Bukit Mertajam, Penang, died after they were severely abused by staff members. The EAIC stated that during the surprise inspection, it interviewed 10 detainees in the depot who said that they were treated well and denied any incidents of abuse by depot staff. As for the deaths officially recorded in the depot, EAIC said that five deaths were recorded during the time of the alleged incidents in 2015. Three inmates died while in detention - one an Indonesian female whose death was caused by sepsis coupled with pneumonia on May 8 2015, another Indonesian female who died of sepsis from complication of diabetes mellitus on July 30, 2015 and a Cambodian woman who died of pneumonia. Two other deaths were also recorded last year. A Bangladeshi male died on July 17, 2015 because of septicaemia with bronchopneumonia and a Myanmar female who died because of severe septic shock to infective endocarditis on Nov 23, 2015. They passed away while receiving treatment at hospitals. The only deaths recorded this year until June is of a female Cambodian, aged 26, who died at the Bukit Mertajam Hospital on June 5 from cardial arrhythmia secondary to severe hypokalaemia. The EAIC said that all the deaths were officially recorded according to existing standing orders and have been notified to the respective embassies. Police reports have also been lodged and death certificates issued by the National Registration Department. "The EAIC thereby concluded that allegations that five Cambodian women and two Vietnamese females had died from abuse by depot staff to be without basis," said the commission. The joint EAIC and Suhakam spot-check, however, did find problems with the depot, namely the dilapidated conditions of the buildings and facilities, overcrowding in the men's compound as well as broken-down CCTVs, which have not been repaired since 2014 due to lack of funds. The EAIC said that it will write to the Home Ministry and the Immigration Department to give serious attention to refurbish and repair existing facilities, as well as expedite the construction of additional buildings for the depot.

Source: Malaysiakini