E/CN.4/2001/66 page 140 705. By letter dated 23 October 2000, the Special Rapporteur reminded the Government of a number of cases transmitted in 1999 regarding which no reply had been received. Urgent appeals 706. On 19 April 2000, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the Chairman-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on behalf of Tian Chua, the vice-president of the National Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Nasional) (PKN), an opposition political party, Roslan Kassim, PKN Information Chief, Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, PKN Youth Chief, N. Gopalankrishnan, PKN Supreme Council member, Abdul Malek Hussain, Mohd Hafiz Hashim, aged 17, and at least 46 other members of the PKN. They were allegedly arrested in connection with a 15 April demonstration and were reportedly remanded in custody by a judge for further questioning. At least six of them were allegedly assaulted and were later denied medical treatment. A detainee is said to have told a magistrate that he had been beaten round the head with a truncheon and punched all over his body. The detainees are reported to have had only limited access to their laywers and not to have been allowed to see their families. Roslan Kassim was reportedly arrested on 14 April 2000 and was ordered to be detained for seven days on suspicion of inciting others to attend an illegal assembly. All the others were reportedly arrested on 15 April and were remanded in custody for up to six days, except Mohd Hafiz Hashim who is reported to have been remanded for three days. 707. On 9 August 2000, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression on behalf of Lokman Noor Adam, N Gopalakrishnan, Norazimah Mohd. Noor, Zanaib Rahmah and three others known as Monas Suffian, Rahimah and Munawar who had reportedly been arrested during a demonstration on 4 August 2000. The demonstration, which took place outside the Magistrates Court in Kuala Lumpur, was said to be in support of the former deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, the verdict in whose trial was expected to be handed down, and of about 30 people who were on trial on charges of participating in an illegal assembly. It is further reported that in a similar demonstration alleged to have taken place on 8 August 2000 outside the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, Tian Chuan, Abdul Malek Hussein, Monas Suffian, Norsuria b. Ismail, Putra b. Zulkarnain, Sabran b. Hamzah, Mohd. Jasni Zakaria, Nekmat b. Abu and four women were also arrested. It is understood that Norsuria b. Ismail, Monas Suffian, Putra b. Zulkarnain, Sabran b. Hamzah, Mohd. Jasni Zakaria, Nekmat B. Abu and Zainal Abidin Hashim had been charged with participating in an illegal assembly and were appearing before the Magistrate on the date the urgent appeal was sent. On 4 August 2000, Lokman Noor Adam, youth leader of the National Justice Party, was reportedly beaten and punched by five plain-clothed men at the time of arrest, and was later brought before a magistrate charged with taking part in an illegal assembly. It is understood he is still detained. On 8 August 2000, Tian Chuan was detained at Ibu Pejat Kontijen, where he was separated from the other demonstrators and taken to the Serious Crime Department. There he was reportedly surrounded by a number of police officers, including a superintendent and two chief inspectors, whereupon he was allegedly kicked and pushed to the floor. He was then reportedly taken to a police cell, where other inmates were encouraged by the police to assault him. When Sabran B. Hamzah was arrested at the demonstration on 8 August 2000, he was punched in the face and kicked in the stomach by four or five uniformed police officers.

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