Three ‘executed’ while kneeling before cops, says lawyer
(The Malaysian Insider) – Post-mortem reports on three youths showed they were kneeling when they were shot by policemen last year, a legal rights group said today. Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) claimed today that the three were executed.
Human rights lawyer and LFL co-ordinator N. Surendran (picture) told reporters at the PKR headquarters here that according to the reports received two days ago, the police did not fatally shoot the three victims in self-defence as claimed.
“Based on scientific findings, the police version is false. The police have lied.
“The police version says that they were rushed with parangs and therefore they were shot,” he said.
Muhammad Hanafi Omar, 22, Muhammad Shamil Hafiz Shapiei, 15, and Hairul Nizam Tuah, 20, were gunned down by the police after a high-speed car chase in the early morning of November 13 last year in Glenmarie, Shah Alam.
The police claimed they had shot the suspects in self-defence when they charged at the officers with machetes at the end of a pre-dawn car chase.
Selangor acting police chief Datuk A. Thaiveegan had reportedly defended his officers’ actions by describing the three dead as “seasoned criminals” who were allegedly involved in at least three armed robberies in Selangor the week prior to their shooting.
According to the forensic report on Shamil, he had two wounds consistent with gunshot wounds, the first injury mark on the forehead, and the second, on the right side of the chest.
“Both gunshot wounds entered 45 degrees into the back and right side of the body. There were no signs of self-defence,” the report said, adding that there was gunpowder residue on the chest wound.
According to the chemist report, there was also gunpowder residue on the victim’s jacket.
As for Hairul, the cause of death was gunshot injuries to the head and chest.
