Draft Pota prone to abuse, violates human rights: ICJ

The draft Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) should either be rejected or amended by parliament, said the International Commission of Jurist today in an open letter to the Speaker of Parliament.

“This law is really prone to abuse and violates international human rights standards,” said Emerlynne Gil, ICJ International Legal Adviser for Southeast Asia.

“This is just the unlawful Internal Security Act with another name. Persons may be sent to prolonged administrative detention on security grounds, on a permanent basis, while the draft law also precludes any effective inquiry by the judiciary into the lawfulness of any other aspect of the arrest or detention of persons arrested under this law.”

“There is a very high threshold that needs to be met to justify the creation of a system of administrative security detention. The government of Malaysia has not shown how the current situation in the country meets this threshold,” Gil added.

Read the open letter (.pdf file)

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