Malaysia is holding thousands of refugees and migrants in a network of “violent, squalid” detention centres where they are deprived of basic needs and sometimes subject to torture, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said.
In a report released on Wednesday, the rights group said 23 former detainees described the centres as “oppressive” places where they faced the daily threat of punishment. All those interviewed by HRW for its report, “We Can’t See the Sun: Malaysia’s Arbitrary Detention of Migrants and Refugees”, said they had witnessed beatings while 15 of them said they had been beaten themselves.
