KUALA LUMPUR: The arrest of the 171 Bangladeshis who were attempting to lodge a police report over their recruitment agent is a wrongful exercise of police powers and in breach of anti-trafficking laws, says Lawyers for Liberty (LFL).
LFL director Zaid Malek said as the migrants have been duped and are stranded in Malaysia and subsequently overstayed, they are now victims of human trafficking.
"It is obvious from the available facts that the migrants have been duped and are now stranded in our country without the jobs they were promised. If they overstayed, it is by design of unscrupulous agents for the purpose of exploitation.
"This would mean that the migrants here are victims of trafficking as per Section 2 of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007. As they are victims of trafficking, the migrants cannot be detained in immigration depots or charged for offences.
"In fact, they should have already been brought to the magistrate within 24 hours of their arrest to be given an interim protection order and be placed instead in a designated place of refuge in accordance with Section 44 of ATIPSOM," he said in a statement adding that must ensure their immediate release.
He was responding to a case in Kota Tinggi, Johor, where police have arrested a group of 171 Bangladeshi men who were walking in a large group wanted to press charges against their agents as they claimed they had yet to be employed after three to six months.
The Bangladeshi men, aged between 19 and 43, were handed over to the Immigration Department for overstaying in the country despite all of them having valid documents.
Zaid said the failure to initiate the process of obtaining a protection order for the migrants obstructs them from being recognised as trafficked persons and to be afforded immunity from criminal prosecution for overstaying as mentioned in Section 25 of ATIPSOM.
He added that it is not enough for the government to investigate the agents responsible for putting the Bangladeshi in this predicament.
He called on the Council for Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (Mapo) to immediately exercise its function to coordinate the implementation of ATIPSOM.
"The continued detention and investigation of the migrants for an offence under Section 15(1)(c) of the Immigration Act makes a mockery of our criminal justice system, where exploitative agents remain free whilst victims are detained and treated like criminals without due process.
"Mapo) must ensure that these migrants who are victims of trafficking are accorded the full protection provided by Atipsom," he said.
He also called for Mapo to utilise its powers under Section 51A of ATIPSOM to allow the migrants to seek employment once the interim protection order has been given as it is a grave injustice to the migrants who are seeking legitimate employment to be deported over another irresponsible party.