‘Death in Bayan Baru lock-up not due to cops’
BernamaPublished: Mar 5, 2014 7:45 PM | Updated: Mar 5, 2014 7:48 PM
The death of a remand prisoner in the Bayan Baru Police Station Centralised Lock-up in George Town last Saturday was due to asthma and not caused by police personnel as alleged by certain quarters, said Penang police chief Abdul Rahim Hanafi.
The death of a remand prisoner in the Bayan Baru Police Station Centralised Lock-up in George Town last Saturday was due to asthma and not caused by police personnel as alleged by certain quarters, said Penang police chief Abdul Rahim Hanafi.
He said the cause of the remand prisoner’s death was confirmed by the doctor who conducted the post-mortem on the body at the Penang Hospital.
“There is no other injury on the remand prisoner’s body. In fact his family also accepted his death because they knew he was inflicted with the illness.
“So today I would like to deny accusations hurled by certain quarters that allege the police caused the remand prisoner’s death. We have also not received any complaints from his family or police reports to investigate (police caused the remand prisoner’s death),” he told reporters in George Town today.
In last Saturday’s incident, the remand prisoner was found dead in his cell after complaining of being unwell.
The 50-year-old man was detained on Feb 24 for a drug-related offence.
Abdul Rahim said all the cells in the lock-up were equipped with closed-circuit televison cameras (CCTV) and the recording did not reveal that the victim was beaten by any police personnel or other prisoners before he was found dead.
On the urging by an elected representative to visit the lock-up in which the detainee died, Abdul Rahim said any party intending to conduct a visit or inspection inside a lock-up cell needed to obtain a court order because there was no legal provision to allow members of the public to do so.
- Bernama
He said the cause of the remand prisoner’s death was confirmed by the doctor who conducted the post-mortem on the body at the Penang Hospital.
“There is no other injury on the remand prisoner’s body. In fact his family also accepted his death because they knew he was inflicted with the illness.
“So today I would like to deny accusations hurled by certain quarters that allege the police caused the remand prisoner’s death. We have also not received any complaints from his family or police reports to investigate (police caused the remand prisoner’s death),” he told reporters in George Town today.
In last Saturday’s incident, the remand prisoner was found dead in his cell after complaining of being unwell.
The 50-year-old man was detained on Feb 24 for a drug-related offence.
Abdul Rahim said all the cells in the lock-up were equipped with closed-circuit televison cameras (CCTV) and the recording did not reveal that the victim was beaten by any police personnel or other prisoners before he was found dead.
On the urging by an elected representative to visit the lock-up in which the detainee died, Abdul Rahim said any party intending to conduct a visit or inspection inside a lock-up cell needed to obtain a court order because there was no legal provision to allow members of the public to do so.
- Bernama
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