STOP TORTURE NOW! TORTURE IS A CRIME - RATIFY CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE NOW!

Dato’ Seri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak Prime Minister of Malaysia, Prime Minister’s Office, Main Block, Perdana Putra Building, Federal Government Administrative Centre, 62502 Putrajaya, MALAYSIA Dear Prime Minister, We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned about the state of individuals subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in Malaysia. Torture is the intentional infliction of severe mental or physical pain or suffering by or with the consent of state authorities for a specific purpose. Torture is often used to punish, to obtain information or a confession, to take revenge on a person or persons or create terror and fear within a population. As of May 2010, 146 nations have ratified the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Despite being a member of the UN Human Rights Council, Malaysia remains reluctant to ratify it. Meanwhile, torture and ill-treatment remain widespread in Malaysia. Malaysia continues to practice judicial corporal punishment by caning, for example, which under international law constitutes torture or other ill-treatment. Furthermore, death in custody, mistreatment, extortion, and forced deportations continue to occur – particularly against non-citizens, refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants. In March, for example, Malaysia's Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein admitted in parliament that 29,759 foreigners had been caned between 2005 and 2010 for immigration offenses alone . Torture and ill-treatment is also common against individuals detained under the International Security Act (ISA). Ex-ISA and current ISA detainees have claimed that police have used no less than 59 types of mental and physical torture against them, including sleep deprivation, round-the-clock interrogation, threats, and beatings. It is essential for Malaysia to ratify this convention in order to form effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture from occurring. As such, we call upon the Malaysian Government to: 1) Ratify and implement provisions under the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) as well as the Optional Protocol to this Convention (OPCAT); 2) Enact immediately a moratorium on caning punishment in all cases, with a view to its abolition; 3) Amend legislation to treat immigration violations as administrative offences rather than crimes punishable by prison or corporal punishment; 4) Ensure that all acts of torture are punishable offenses under its criminal law, and that all law enforcement agencies and officers respect the CAT. Let us commit to ending torture and impunity in Malaysia. Sincerely, The Undersigned