March to Parliament over death of detainee in police custody

Family members and supporters of Noorizwan Zulkefly will march to Parliament tomorrow to demand justice for his death in police custody and call for the immediate establishment of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission.

The march, organised by Lawyers for Liberty (LFL), will involve Noorizwan’s family and friends, civil society organisations, lawyers and concerned Malaysians, who will present a memorandum to MPs demanding accountability.

LFL director Rania Aljunied said the investigation had yet to be classified as murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code, and no police officer had been suspended or arrested more than three weeks after Noorizwan’s death in police custody on Oct 1.

“Justice has yet to be done,” she said in a media notification.

The march is scheduled to begin at Taman Tugu at 10.30am before proceeding to Parliament.

Noorizwan, 42, was arrested on Sept 19 in connection with investigations into drug possession, theft and a break-in.

He was held at the Cheras police headquarters before being taken to Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz UKM (HUKM) on Sept 30. He was pronounced dead the following day.

Tomorrow’s march comes amid a dispute over the findings of the investigation into Noorizwan’s death.

Rania and LFL lawyer Dina Zamri yesterday challenged Bukit Aman’s statement that Noorizwan had suffered external injuries but no internal bleeding, and that his cause of death was pending laboratory analysis.

The lawyers said an autopsy conducted by a HUKM pathologist had found generalised bleeding in the brain and bleeding in the intestines. They also said the pathologist had determined that Noorizwan died from blunt trauma to the head.

They asked why the case remained classified as sudden death and urged Attorney-General Dusuki Mokhtar to intervene, calling for the case to be investigated as murder and for a special team from Bukit Aman to take over the probe.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has directed Inspector-General of Police Khalid Ismail to ensure a thorough and transparent investigation into Noorizwan’s death.

Khalid yesterday ordered Bukit Aman’s criminal investigation department to investigate the death, saying there were “several unusual injuries” on the detainee’s body.

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