Myanmar activist in Malaysia, beaten, blacklisted and deported

Source Freemalaysiatoday, 29 Jan

Aung Naing Win was allegedly slapped and punched in front of 100 other detainees.

KUALA LUMPUR: The ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC)/ASEAN People's Forum (APF), the 2015 Malaysian National Organising Committee and SUARAM have taken issue, in a statement, with the arrest, detention, violence against and deportation of Myanmar-based human rights activist Aung Naing Win better known as Shine on January 23, two days after he landed in Malaysia.

He has also been banned from entering Malaysia.

The ACSC/APF 2015 Malaysian National Organising Committee and SUARAM called on the government to investigate and explain publicly the blacklisting, arrest and detention of Shine.

Shine, has been campaigning for democracy and interfaith relationships/marriages in his country. Shine, a Muslim, works as a Country Coordinator for Malaysian Relief Agency (MRA) in Myanmar as well as being a Founder and President of Interfaith Youth Coalition on Aid in Myanmar.

According to the statement, Shine arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on the night of January 21 at around 8.15pm and was stopped and detained by the immigration department. The immigration officer did not inform Shine why he was denied entry to Malaysia. Shine was on his way to participate in the third regional consultation meeting for ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC)/ASEAN People's Forum (APF) 2015 in Selangor on January 23 and 24.

"When first asked by Shine's friend, the immigration officer explained that it was a case of mistaken identity because he shares the same name as another person on the blacklisted name list. The immigration department said that they would investigate the case and release him the next day," said the statement.

"Nonetheless, when contacted again the next morning, the immigration officer said that Shine was blacklisted and will be deported back to Myanmar."

This came as a shock as Shine has been travelling abroad with legitimate documents and was a frequent traveler to Malaysia for meetings with MRA and for ASEAN People's Forum regional consultation meetings without any issues from immigration, added the statement.

Shine alleged, the statement continued, that he was not given any food and water by the officer for more than 12 hours. Shine further said that when he asked for food and water from the immigration officer, the officer named "Fiqri" allegedly slapped and punched him in front of 100 other detainees. Shine attempted to plead with the officer who ignored him and continued to beat and punch him.

After the first phone call to Shine on January 23 morning, the immigration officer had prohibited lawyers and friends from speaking to Shine for "security" reasons.

"We strongly object to such ill-treatment and abuse of power by the immigration department. The immigration officers have no right to abuse Shine and deny him his rights," said the statement. "Such blatant abuse of power is unacceptable, unwarranted and unjustifiable. There are absolutely no legitimate grounds for blacklisting Shine or detaining him. It is ludicrous to hold a human rights activist as a threat to 'security' and subject him to ill-treatment by enforcement officers."

The ACSC/APF is an annual forum of civil society organisations in ASEAN member states, which is held as a parallel meeting to the ASEAN Summit of Heads of State. And this year, a coalition of Malaysian civil society organisations coordinated by SUARAM and Pusat KOMAS are hosting the forum in Malaysia.