E/CN.4/2001/66 page 139 Urgent appeals 699. On 8 March 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 Sami Muhammad Sami, ‘Abd al-Hafez Muhammad al Naggar, Ashraf Sulayman al-amrouni, Imam ‘Awad Khabouli, Gamal Mabrouk Abu Sha’ala, ‘Adel Salim Kakouka and Iamn Muhammad ‘Attiya, who, in the previous three weeks, had been forcibly returned to Libya from Jordan under suspicion of being sympathizers of Islamist groups. They were said to have been arrested upon return on 4 January 2000. Malaysia 700. By letter dated 5 October 2000, the Special Rapporteur advised the Government that he had received information according to which the police routinely use excessive violence to break up demonstrations. The use of truncheons, water cannons and tear gas appears to be common. In September 1999, the police are alleged to have used water cannons filled with water laced with chemicals against a 10,000 strong demonstration in support of Anwar Ibrahim, former deputy prime minister, at the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur. A number of people are reported to have been treated in hospital after they were beaten by police or injured by the chemicals used in the water cannons. Fourteen of the demonstrators are said to be facing trial for attending an illegal assembly or for failure to disperse. 701. The Special Rapporteur transmitted information on the following individual cases. 702. Rosman Mohd Ariffin was reportedly arrested at his home after demonstrations near the Prime Minister’s residence on 20 September 1998 and charged with failure to disperse. He is alleged to have testified during his trial, in March 1999, that he had asked permission from five officers of the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) to cross the road, but had been hit and kicked from behind as he did so. He fell down as he attempted to run away and was struck repeatedly by five FRU officers before being held for five days in a police lock-up. He is alleged to have signed a statement out of fear and exhaustion. 703. Mohamad Suffian was reportedly arrested on 17 April 1999. While in Sungai Buloh prison, he was allegedly beaten by a plain-clothed officer with a hockey stick until it broke in two. He was also reportedly slapped and punched and then placed in a small room and again assaulted by a uniformed policeman with the back of a shoe. 704. The Special Rapporteur transmitted information according to which the Immigration Department operates at least nine immigration detention camps in peninsular Malaysia and others in Sabah and Sarawak. Detainees in these camps are allegedly subjected to routine beatings and are inadequately fed and denied medical care. Domestic and international monitors have reportedly been refused access to these detainees. Detainees from Bangladesh have reportedly testified that, while held at the Tanah Merah and Semenyih camps, they were beaten and seriously injured, subjected to gross sexual abuse, kept in overcrowded, mosquito-infested rooms with foul toilets, denied water and clean clothes, and forced to stare into the sun.