Malaysia gov't ordered to pay for detainee's death

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The government was ordered to pay 1.4 million ringgit ($430,000) to a woman whose husband died in police custody — a landmark court ruling in Malaysia after years of accusations that suspects are mistreated in lockups, a lawyer said Thursday. Mohamad Anuar Sharip, a 31-year-old who had tuberculosis, died after vomiting blood in 1999 while he was detained in a police station cell on suspicion of drug use. His wife, Suzana Mohamad Aris, subsequently sued the police and the government for not taking proper care of him. The Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled last October that authorities had been negligent and awarded compensation totaling 137,220 ringgit ($42,270), but Susana filed an appeal to receive a higher amount. The court agreed Wednesday to increase the compensation tenfold, said Suzana's lawyer, P. Uthayakumar. "Let the message go forth from this place that any more deaths in police custody is too many. Steps must be taken that the basic human right of a detained person to seek medical treatment ... should be immediately attended to," High Court official Lee Swee Seng was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times. Before last October's verdict, there had been "no precedent, even of 1 ringgit, being awarded for such deaths in custody," Uthayakumar told the AP. "This will send a message to the police to better take care of their detainees." Government lawyers handling the case could not immediately be contacted. Human rights activists have long claimed that many suspects held in police lockups are assaulted and deprived of adequate food. However, few of these complaints are known to have led to police officials being penalized. A UN human rights delegation last month accused Malaysian police of abusing detainees to obtain confessions. The claim was based on a two-week visit of detention centers and various interviews. The UN officials urged the government to set up independent investigations into deaths in police custody. Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein reportedly replied that reports of abuse in custody were isolated cases. The Home Ministry recently said 147 detainees died in custody between 2000 and 2009, but specific reasons for the death have not been made public. —AP