Youth detained over May Day rally says cop threatened to rape her
BY MELATI A. JALIL
Published: 10 May 2015 12:06 PM
A total of 23 youths were arrested over the May Day rally in Kuala Lumpur, with Maisara Amira being the only woman. They were remanded for four days. – The Malaysian Insider pic, May 10, 2015.The only female among the 23 youths arrested over the May Day rally in Kuala Lumpur 10 days ago has lodged a police report alleging that a police officer threatened to rape her before she was released on Tuesday.
Maisara Amira, 21, who was remanded for four days along with the others, lodged the report at the Petaling Jaya police headquarters on Friday. She was accompanied by her father and a lawyer.
"She received a rape threat from one of the police officers when she was asked to give a statement during her detention; she was threatened if she did not cooperate," lawyer Nik Zarith Nik Moustpha told The Malaysian Insider.
He said the report was lodged at the PJ police headquarters at about 4.30pm on Friday.
Nik Zarith said the alleged incident occurred at Dang Wangi police headquarters on May 5, hours before Maisara was released the same day.
"It happened between 11.30am and 1.30pm, while she was being questioned by a police officer. During the questioning she chose to remain silent and the officer tried to get information from her... the police officer did utter the words," he said, adding that initially there was a female officer who accompanied Maisara during questioning but then was told to leave.
"She doesn't know the officer's name, and he was not in uniform," he said.
He said Maisara was traumatised by the incident and told her lawyer what happened.
"This is a very serious matter as it involves woman's dignity and it happened in police custody,"
"We want police to conduct an investigation, and we don't want the same team as it involves a criminal threat by one of the officers towards a detainee," said Nik Zarith.
All 23 youths were released on Tuesday on police bail after their statements were recorded.
The youths were investigated under Section 143 of the Penal Code and Section 4 of the Corrosive and Explosive Substances Act.
During the rally, some youths dressed in black and with their faces covered were seen setting off orange smoke bombs and spray-painting graffiti on signboards and metal hoardings in the city.
After she was released, Maisara said that during questioning, police had asked her whether those arrested were "anarchists" or from punk groups, and also if they were anti-government. – May 10, 2015.
