Lawyers of Mohammad Rayhan Kabir, a Bangladeshi expatriate in Malaysia who was arrested recently, were barred from meeting him by the country’s immigration authority.
On Saturday, they sought permission from the Malaysian police and the immigration department to meet Rayhan and were scheduled to meet him at 2pm (Malaysian time) on Monday.
When they went there, authorities concerned told the two lawyers that they will not be allowed to meet Rayhan, said Shariful Hasan, chief of the Brac Migration Program.
The authorities told them that they would be given another schedule for the meeting, Shariful continued.
Lawyers Sumita Shaanthinni Kishna and Selvaraja Chinniah were appointed by Rayhan’s father, Md Shah Alam.
Officials from the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia will soon meet Rayhan, said Shariful, adding that the two lawyers want to accompany the officials when they do so.
“They have asked for help from the Foreign Ministry of Bangladesh and the high commission,” said the Brac Migration Program chief.
‘Nothing Rayhan said even remotely in breach of Malaysian laws’
Malaysian rights group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) said the authorities must put a stop to their unlawful harassment against Rayhan.
Such drastic measures by the authorities are unwarranted as they have thus far failed to explain what offence Rayhan has committed, read an LFL statement.
Their unjust behaviour is clearly a form of retribution for the allegations of discrimination made by Rayhan in a recent Al Jazeera documentary, the organization said.
“We have scrutinized the statement made by Rayhan in the documentary and firmly restate that he has not said anything even remotely in breach of the country’s laws,” it added.
Rayhan was only venting his frustrations and concerns regarding the crackdown by the authorities on the migrant community during the Movement Control Order.
Similar complaints have been made by local activists and NGOs. There is no justifiable reason why the authorities must resort to such punitive measures against Rayhan for his statements, it further said.
“We reiterate that the revocation of Rayhan’s permit is in breach of section 9(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 and his deportation for being undocumented thus cannot stand.
“The persecution of Rayhan sends a chilling message to migrants to not speak out or report abuse by the authorities, lest they suffer the same fate.
“We must not allow the authorities to act in flagrant disregard of the law. We urgently call on the government and the authorities to halt all actions against Rayhan,” the statement said.
Bangladeshi expatriate Md Rayhan Kabir was arrested, jailed, and remanded for criticizing the Malaysian government for its treatment of undocumented immigrants amid the Covid-19 pandemic in an Al Jazeera documentary titled ‘Locked Up in Malaysia's Lockdown’.
Bangladeshi authorities, however, have remained silent on the issue.
