A BLACK day campaign will be held on July 16 to remember those who have died in police custody, a rights group said today.

The event, “Black Day for Death in Custody”, will take place on from 5.30pm to 7.30pm this Friday, conducted on the Zoom platform and aired on Facebook live. It will end with an online candlelight vigil.

Family members of custodial death victims will also be joining the virtual campaign.

Eliminating Death and Abuse in Custody Together (EDICT) said the date is symbolic to remember the deaths of Teoh Beng Hock and R. Gunasegaran on July 16, 2009.

EDICT spokesperson Khalid Istmath added that prior to the incidents involving Teoh and Gunasegaran, no organisation had paid much attention to custodial deaths.

“Before 2009, there were cases of custodial deaths but no organisation paid much attention. Only when Teoh and Gunasegaran died on July 16, 2009, people started talking about it.

“It is symbolic therefore that we choose July 16 as the date to commemorate the victims of death in detention,” said Khalid this morning.

On July 15, 2009, Teoh was initially taken to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in Shah Alam for questioning on an alleged scandal involving Ean Yong Hian Wah, a Selangor government exco.

The next morning, Teoh’s body was found on the rooftop of a building adjacent to the MACC office.

To date, no one has been held accountable for Teoh’s death 12 years ago, although investigation showed the pre-fall injury on his neck suggested the existence of criminal element.

Gunasegaran, meanwhile, died while on his way to the hospital from the Sentul district police station where he was detained.

Police had then claimed that Gunasegaran collapsed when he was having his thumbprint recorded at the Sentul district police headquarters. His sister R. Ganga Gowri, however, alleged that Gunasegaran was assaulted by the police before he collapsed.

In a second autopsy, it was found that there was a scar on Gunasegaran’s chest that measured 28cm long, 8cm wide and 5cm deep. A suspect who was arrested with Gunasegaran claimed that he saw the latter being assaulted until he was unconscious by a policeman.

Lawyer M. Visvanathan, who was present during the virtual press conference this morning, said the campaign wished to put an end to custodial deaths.

“Hundreds may have died in police custody and we have to put an end to this. There is no reason why a person must die in custody,” said Visvanathan.

“We need to reach zero cases on this matter,” he added.

Opposition lawmakers such as Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim and Kangar MP Amin Ahmad will act as guest speakers during the event on July 16.

Khalid later revealed that in 2021 alone there have been 16 cases of death in custody.

“Compared to 2020, there were 11 deaths in detention. This year, however, we already have 16 cases,” he said. – July 13, 2021.