POLICE have begun an investigation into international news agency Al Jazeera for allegedly tarnishing Malaysia through a documentary on how the country treats illegal immigrants in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Bukit Aman CID deputy director (Investigation/Legal) Mior Faridalathrash Wahid said the department was conducting an investigation following the report made by the Immigration Department of Malaysia at the Precinct 7 Police Station in Putrajaya.

“We have opened investigation papers under Section 500 of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998,” he said when contacted by Bernama.

Investigations were conducted by the Kuala Lumpur police contingent.

Mior Faridalathrash said the police also received a report on a similar issue by a woman in Putrajaya around 9 am today. 

According to him, the complainant made a report after watching the documentary video on the YouTube site, and her statement had been taken.

Al Jazeera, prior to this, released a 25-minute, 50-second documentary entitled Locked Up in Malaysia’s Lockdown that denounced treatments of illegal immigrants when Malaysia took steps to tackle Covid-19.

Bernama today reported that the Inspector-General of Police Abdul Hamid Bador said the report released by the news agency alleging that Malaysia discriminated against illegal immigrants was inaccurate and further investigations were underway by police.

Earlier, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Ismail Sabri Yaakob wanted the international news agency to apologise to Malaysians for posting false and misleading information. – Bernama, July 6, 2020.