We don’t torture detainees, only share data with CIA, say cops
The Malaysian Insider – 2 hours 50 minutes agoRELATED CONTENT
- We don’t torture detainees, only share data with CIA, say cops
Malaysia’s police intelligence shares information with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States as part of efforts to tackle terrorism, but it is not involved in secret detention and "extraordinary rendition operations", said the director of the Special Branch.
Datuk Seri Akhil Bulat said information sharing between all intelligence entities in the world is necessary in tackling terrorism, hence, it is normal to forge ties with the CIA.
But he said the cooperation with the CIA was restricted to information sharing and training, nothing else.
He was commenting on a recent report on the CIA’s tactics after the September 11, 2001, terrorists attacks which had named Malaysia as being among the allies in the US's "Global War on Terror" in which suspected militants were captured and sent to secret prisons set up for torture purposes.
The report contains graphic details of harsh investigation methods said to be used by the CIA on detained terror suspects.
Malaysia was revealed to have played a part in the practice of "extraordinary rendition", whereby secret arrests were made and where detained suspects were moved to undisclosed prisons.
Akhil denied this.
“That is not true. Yes, we work with CIA and we do send our officers from time to time to attend the training as and when we see it would benefit us in improving our intelligence gathering. We also get our men exposed to the most updated technologies, but that’s it.
“As for allegations in the report (of secret arrests and detained suspects being moved to undisclosed prisons), as well as the ‘transfer to torture’, they are not true.
“I can only tell you what is happening during my service as director and such allegations never occurred,” said Akhil, who was appointed as the Federal Special Branch Department director in 2009, and has been serving in the police force for more than 30 years.
“I cannot comment about the era before me. Intelligence works differently," he said, adding that to avoid leakage of information, those on duty were given segmented areas.
He then gave this example: "Those in the 'A' section are not privy to investigation or information in the 'B' section."
Akhil added that the Special Branch also does not take orders from the CIA because Malaysia is a sovereign nation.
“We work with them and other intelligence agencies in other countries. After all, terrorism is a global issue. We cannot act alone as terrorists are everywhere and it needs a global network to identify these groups and curb them,” said Akhil.
He said Malaysian intelligence does not use force or ‘torture’ as described in the report to extract information from terrorists.
“We do not use CIA tactics. We have a lot of experience in handling militants and terrorists since the time of the communists. We have our own way and our way is much better than the CIA’s or even our neighbour, Indonesia,” said Akhil.
He also said the agency received information on terrorists and their movements from other countries on a daily basis and that shows how close the country’s intelligence works with others.
Akhil also explained the "rendition" on Abu Abdullah al-Sadiq (Abdul Hakim Belhadj) and his wife, Fatima Bouchar, who were detained in Malaysia in 2004, which was made available in the report.
According to the report, Abu Abdullah and his wife, who was pregnant at the time, were arrested by Malaysian authorities in Kuala Lumpur and detained for 13 days under poor conditions and the wife was denied medical attention.
Both were later “transferred” to Thailand where they were allegedly tortured and finally sent to Libya where Abu Abdullah was detained until 2010, while his wife was released shortly after she gave birth.
Akhil said they received information that the couple were members of a group in Libya which has close ties with al-Qaeda.
“They came in from China and they were supposed to be deported back to the country but it could not be done due to visa problems. They were deported to Thailand instead at their own request, not ours,” said Akhil.
As to what allegedly happened in Thailand, Akhil said the police here were not aware of it.
Malaysia was named as one of the 54 foreign governments which reportedly participated in the operation in various ways including by hosting CIA prisons on their territories, detaining, interrogating, torturing and abusing individuals; assisting in the capture and transport of detainees; permitting the use of domestic airspace and airports for secret flights for transporting detainees; providing intelligence leading to secret detention and extraordinary rendition of individuals and interrogating individuals who were secretly being held in the custody of other governments.
Among other countries named were Hong Kong, Australia, Indonesia and Thailand. –December 12, 2014.
