Case Update

Ten detainees associated with the HINDRAF case were released on bail and are due to return to the Police Station on 25 November 2008. P. Vwaishhnnavi, daughter of P. Waythamoorthy and her mother K. Shanti were released on 24 October and, due to fear of subsequent arrest, have gone into exile in the United Kingdom.

Further Information

Front Line is deeply concerned following reports that family members of detained Hindu Rights. Action Force (HINDRAF) lawyers were amongst 11 persons who were arrested on 23 October 2008, including the 6-year old daughter of HINDRAF Chairperson P. Waythamoorthy, as they attempted to submit a letter to the Prime Minister's office in Putrajaya. On 23 October 2008, at approximately 3.15 pm, P. Vwaishhnnavi, daughter of P. Waythamoorthy and niece of HINDRAF leader P. Uthayakumar, approached the Prime Minister's office in Putrajaya together with her mother K. Shanti, S. Jayathas, P. Taramaraju, P. Waytha Nayagi, Poobalan, R. Kannan, Mary Shanti, Bala, Rajasekaran and Ravi Sundaram. They were there to accompany P. Vwaishhnnavi as she submitted a Deepavali card to the Prime Minister in which she called for the release of all those falsely imprisoned under the Internal Security Act (ISA), including five human rights defenders from HINDRAF and also invited the Prime Minister to her home for an open house to celebrate the festival. The 11 detained persons are currently being held at the Putrajaya district police headquarters. Police Chief Abd Razak Abd Majid declined to comment on the arrests but reports indicate that the child, the two women and eight men are being held under either the Societies Act, for participating in an unlawful society, or the Police Act, for illegal assembly.

On 15 October 2008 the Home Ministry officially declared the HINDRAF organisation illegal, as a result of investigations by the Registrar of Societies (ROS) which reportedly found that 'the organisation’s activities contravened the Societies Act 1966 and if left unchecked, the organisation could pose a threat to public order, peace, security and morality in Malaysia'. Messrs P. Uthayakumar, M. Manoharan, V. Ganapathy Rao, T. Vasanthakumar and R. Kengatharan were arrested on 13 December 2007 and charged under the Internal Security Act (ISA) of Malaysia on the grounds of threatening national security by organising a peaceful demonstration. All five human rights defenders had taken up and worked on, on a pro bono basis, many cases of death in police custody and police violence. They had filed many cases against the Malaysian Government and authorities. Chairperson P. Waythamoorthy remains in self-exile in the United Kingdom.

Front Line believes that the above-mentioned persons have been arrested and detained solely on account of their legitimate human rights activities calling for the release of Messrs P. Uthayakumar, M. Manoharan, V. Ganapathy Rao, T. Vasanthakumar and R. Kengatharan. In addition Front Line believes that the five members of HINDRAF were targeted as a result of their work defending the rights of the ethnic minority Indians in Malaysia. Front Line is concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of all of the aforementioned human rights defenders.