Aug

Malaysia Abuse Claims Drive Agency to Call for Urgent Fixes

The agency tasked with investigating abuse by Malaysia’s security forces said that claims of fatal abuse against foreign maids—including Cambodians—at a detention center were untrue, though it said the center where the abuse allegedly occurred was in urgent need of attention.

Following a “surprise” visit last Monday to the Juru detention center in Penang state, the nominally independent Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) told Malaysian media outlets on Friday that it found no evidence of physical abuse at the center. However, it found that some security cameras at the prison had not been working since 2014 and said conditions at the center required “urgent attention.”

The inspection came in response to claims made by two Cambodian maids who were detained at the center upon returning to Cambodia. In an interview with The Cambodia Daily, one of the maids said detainees were often hit and kicked by guards at the center and that fellow inmates died there—possibly from their injuries.