Shiaphobia in Malaysia: Sunni activist beaten up, abduct by police as they think he leaned towards Shia Islam

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AhlulBayt News Agency) - (Photo: Norhayati Mohd Ariffin, the wife of missing activist Amri Che Mat, says the police did not follow the rule of law when taking her husband.)

The wife of missing activist Amri Che Mat today said that her husband was taken by Bukit Aman police officers without the knowledge of the Perlis police.

Norhayati Mohd Ariffin said this was revealed to her by one Sarjan Shamzaini, a Special Branch informant from Perlis who came to her house at 10.30pm on May 12.

“We talked for two hours and 20 minutes, and he left at 12.50am on his motorbike,” Norhayati told the inquiry into the disappearance of Amri, Pastor Raymond Koh and others conducted by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).

“He said despite the Perlis police monitoring Amri, they were not aware of the abduction carried out by Bukit Aman.

“He also told me he did not know where my husband was taken to as no one opened their mouths about it.”

Shamzaini was also the informant who, when asked by Norhayati, revealed that the same police team had taken Koh.

Norhayati said it was the first time she had talked to Shamzaini and what he had revealed was hard to hear.

“He said Amri was beaten up while they grabbed him from his car roughly. The police definitely did not follow the law when they took him.

“He also said he felt guilty, which was why he was revealing the information to me. He said he dared to speak now as the government had changed.

“He also said he dared to speak because the names of the top brass in the police force who were involved were already known to the public,” she said.

Amri, who co-founded an NGO called Perlis Hope, has been missing since Nov 24, 2016. His wife previously said that five vehicles had blocked his car before he was whisked away, some 500 metres from their home in Bukit Chabang, Perlis.

Among the witnesses summoned to the inquiry was Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, following his visit to Amri’s house accompanied by police and officers from the state mufti department.

Asri said he had gone to Amri’s house to investigate “complaints” over Amri’s leaning towards Shia Islam, the school of thought labelled as deviant by Malaysia’s Islamic authorities.




/129