SOBS accompanied an apology from a human rights inquiry panel for its failure to find a missing activist after a year of hearings and investigation.

Amri Che Mat’s wife Norhayati Mohd Ariffin and daughter Nur Amirah Amri broke down in tears as the panel called the inquiry to a close with the conclusion that Amri was a victim of enforced disappearance.

Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) commissioner Mah Weng Kwai, who chaired the inquiry, expressed his sorrow over the grief and anxiety the family had endured in the last three years.

“We apologise…we are sorry that we are unable to trace the whereabouts of Amri Che Mat,” said Mah.

Norhayati held on to Suzanna Liew, whose missing husband Raymond Koh was also the subject of the inquiry, as they both wept. They had earlier gripped each other’s hands as the panel delivered its grim verdict.

The two women went into the washroom, refusing to take questions from the media and asking for “space’.

Norhayati’s companions at the event told reporters that Norhayati was happy that the panel had come to a conclusion.

Earlier today the panel unanimously decided that state agents were responsible for the disappearances of Amri and Koh, based on evidence unearthed in the year-long public inquiry.

“The evidence proves that he was abducted by state agents. There was no evidence he was detained by police, but he was taken away,” Mah said. 

The panel said the two men were snatched by Special Branch teams from federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman.

Amri, who founded Perlis Hope, was abducted on November 24, 2016. It was revealed in the hearings that he was at the time under police surveillance for alleged Shia activities.

Koh was snatched on February 13, 2017. A police report was lodged against him a few months later for allegedly proselytising to young people. – April 3, 2019.