As Muslims celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri tomorrow, lawyers are issuing a reminder that slain teenager Aminulrasyid Amzah's family will not be in a jubilant mood. Human rights NGO Lawyers for Liberty are also still upset that the policemen who had allegedly assaulted Aminulrasyid's friend, Azamuddin Omar, have not been brought to justice.In an emotional press statement signed by lawyers for Aminulrasyid's family, N Surendran and Latheefa Koya, they also took shots at the government for not taking a serious view of the matter.
"Yesterday, Lawyers for Liberty accompanied the family of Aminulrasyid Amzah (left) and other police shooting victims to hand over a memorandum seeking justice to Home Minister Hishamuddin Hussein."Regrettably, they were met with apathy and indifference by officials at the Home Ministry. They made no effort to find out what the matter was, and seemed only interested in taking the memorandum and sending the group away as quickly as possible."Invariably, this has been the attitude of the ministry and the police whenever the people have come to them with grievances," said the statement.
Aminulrasyid, 15, was shot by the police when he did not stop despite being chased by police in the middle of the night mid-April.Azamuddin - who was with him in the car - managed to flee on foot, but not before being assaulted by policemen, after their Proton Iswara had crashed into a drain at a residential area in Shah Alam, just 200 metres away from Aminulrasyid's house.
False statements
In an immediate press conference after the incident, Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar had said that the boys had tried to ram into the policemen by reversing their car and later they found a parang in the boot of the car.The charges have been vehemently denied by Azamuddin, as well as Aminulrasyid's family.
Only one police corporal was charged for manslaughter since."These false statements were criminal in nature, yet no one in the police hierarchy has been charged for any offence," said the statement."Perhaps this is hardly surprising, considering that Khalid was among those who had made these statements. In the absence of an independent police complaints mechanism, who will investigate any wrongdoings of the Selangor police chief himself?
"Surely not the IGP, who in response to public outrage over Aminulrasyid's murder, notoriously threatened to take all cops off the streets. Worse, schoolboy Azamuddin was assaulted by several policeman after the vehicle had come to a stop, yet no police officer has been brought to justice."This is another failure on the part of the Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail, as he has the power to oversee and direct police investigations," it said.Blaming the government, the lawyers claimed that it had failed to intervene to reforming the police force even when single mother Norizan Salleh was shot five times when she was in the car as well last October."On the contrary, th government has been quick to defend the police against criticism by lawyers and human rights groups."Had they heeded these warnings, Aminulrasyid might yet have celebrated Hari Raya this weekend," said the statement
Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/142326
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