MISSING activist Amri Che Mat’s wife has filed a civil suit against the government, the police and former home minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for “actively failing to investigate” his disappearance on November 24, 2016.

In her suit filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today, Norhayati Mohd Ariffin also named as respondents a number of currently serving and former police officers, including former inspectors-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar and Mohamad Fuzi Harun, and the former head of Special Branch’s intelligence division Awaludin Jadid.

“This month marks three years since Amri was snatched from us, yet I remain in the dark as to where he is and whether he is still alive,” said Norhayati in a statement.

“From the beginning, it was clear to me that the police were actively failing to investigate my husband’s disappearance. I am convinced that this failure, especially in the critical first few days, is why my husband was not found or recovered safely from his abductors,” she added.

She said the police’s continued failure to conduct proper investigations over the next following months reinforced the conspiracy of silence that protected his abductors and concealed Amri’s fate and whereabouts.

“It is why my daughters and I have suffered and continue to suffer serious anguish and distress since Amri’s abduction.”

At the time of his disappearance in 2016, Amri and Norhayati, both 43, had been married for 19 years, and had four daughters.

Since Amri’s disappearance, primary school teacher Norhayati has shouldered all financial and non-financial responsibilities of the family as well as the burden of finding out the truth and securing justice for her disappeared husband.

Amri disappeared on the night of November 24, 2016 in Kangar, Perlis. Witnesses said his car was forced to a stop near his house after being surrounded by three vehicles.

An hour later, security guards at a construction site near Padang Besar found Amri’s car abandoned and stripped of identification. They immediately contacted the police.

In 2018, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) held an inquiry into the disappearance of Amri and Pastor Raymond Koh who was abducted in Petaling Jaya on February 13, 2017.

On April 3, 2019, Suhakam concluded from the inquiry that Amri’s and Koh’s enforced disappearance was “carried out by agents of the state, namely the Special Branch, Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur”, followed by “a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty” and the “concealment of the fate and the whereabouts of the disappeared persons”.

Norhayati’s lawyer Surendra Ananth said there were 21 defendants listed in the claim, all of whom are alleged to be liable directly or indirectly for the failure to investigate Amri’s disappearance.

Norhayati and her family, together with Amri’s friends, will mark the third anniversary since Amri’s disappearance on Nov 24.

To date, no one has been arrested or charged in connection with Amri’s disappearance, which is still officially classified as a “missing person” case by Perlis police. – November 18, 2019.