KUALA LUMPUR: Amnesty International Malaysia has commended the authorities in reducing imprisonment of Movement Control Order (MCO) violators.
It said authorities must follow up these measures by protecting the health of all those in detention and should urgently consider measures to release people held in prison and immigration detention centres, especially those at particular risk of the pandemic.
Last week, authorities announced that they would issue RM1,000 fines for those caught breaching MCO orders, a move Amnesty International viewed as more favourable.
Nonetheless, prisons and immigration detention facilities remain crowded, it said.
“Prisons and immigration detention centres present high-risk conditions that may increase the spread of the Covid-19.
“These places are especially risky considering the overcrowding in many detention facilities,” said Preethi Bhardwaj, interim executive director of Amnesty International Malaysia.
To lower risk of transmission in prisons, Amnesty International Malaysia called upon the government to consider alternatives to imprisonment, especially in the case of inmates who are elderly or have an underlying health condition so long as they are not an immediate threat to public safety.
In addition, presumption of release should be considered to free those charged with a crime that are awaiting trial.
Amnesty International Malaysia also called upon the government to urgently provide alternatives to detention, and grant humanitarian release to immigration detainees except in the most extraordinary of circumstances requiring ongoing detention.
“The government must act promptly to prevent the spread of Covid-19 among detainees in prisons and immigration detention centres.
“Detaining people in immigration detention centres in particular, is cruel and may lead to a rise in infections not only among detainees, but afterwards, the public at large ,” said Bhardwaj.
On March 16, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced a two-week Movement Control Order (MCO) to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Malaysians were told to stay at home; social and religious gatherings were prohibited; and educational institutions and businesses were shut down apart from essential services.
The MCO was subsequently extended until April 14, and again until April 28.
In the context of the pandemic, numerous organisations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, have called for detention populations in the country to be reduced.