![]() “I agree there is some overcrowding and the conditions are not ideal. BRUTAL CONDITIONS Malaysia’s home ministry, which oversees the immigration department, said it was trying to improve the conditions in the centers but that its budget was constrained. The illnesses that led to some of the deaths may have been caused or exacerbated by poor sanitation and food, physical abuse and a lack of medical attention, said Joseph, who was speaking on behalf of the commission. He described conditions at the centers, some of which he has visited, as “appalling” and said the deaths should be investigated as a criminal matter. "The numbers are too many and are shocking and it calls for the overhaul of the system," said Jerald Joseph, one of eight commissioners at Suhakam, which was established by the Malaysian parliament through an act in 1999 and is due to publicly announce the numbers next week in its annual report on human rights issues in Malaysia. Najib’s office did not return calls seeking comment. He has called for foreign intervention to stop the “genocide” in Myanmar. For a graphic on deaths in detention in Malaysia, click Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been a harsh critic of the Myanmar government and its de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi after a crackdown in October by Myanmar’s security forces led many Rohingya to flee across its borders amid multiple allegations of mass killings and gang rapes by troops. The number of Rohingya fatalities in the camps is unknown. More than half of the 118 dead are from Myanmar, the source for tens of thousands of refugees coming to Malaysia, including Rohingya Muslims escaping persecution by Myanmar’s authorities and its majority Buddhist population. The rate is higher than in major industrialized nations such as the United States, which in the last financial year recorded 10 deaths in its immigration detention system, which has many more detainees than Malaysia’s. ![]() Government officials in Indonesia and Thailand told Reuters they do not disclose such numbers. It is unclear whether the death rate is higher than in neighboring countries. There were 83 deaths in 2015, and at least 35 in 2016 up to Dec. The toll, which has not been previously disclosed, is based on Malaysian immigration department data provided to the commission, which is known by its Malay acronym Suhakam. Ananthalakshmi KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - More than one hundred foreigners died in the past two years in Malaysia's immigration detention centers from various diseases and unknown causes, according to documents from the government–funded National Human Rights Commission reviewed by Reuters.
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