against the government’s handling of deportations to countries where returnees Covid-19. were at real risk of human rights violations. In FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY February, the government deported 1,086 migrants and asylum seekers to Myanmar in The Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) and defiance of a court order and despite Covid-19 control laws and regulations were increased violence and threats of persecution used to prevent and disperse peaceful following the military coup there. protests. In March, police interrogated In June, hundreds of people were detained demonstrators following a protest calling for during a series of raids on areas with high the voting age to be lowered to 18.2 In May, numbers of undocumented migrants. protesters calling for parliament to be Crowded immigration detention facilities reconvened were investigated under the PAA. placed those detained at increased risk of 4 In July, police threatened to arrest doctors at contracting Covid-19. The government also one medical facility who were participating in disseminated anti-Rohingya posters and a nationwide hour-long strike in support of other anti-migrant messages online. better job security. The strike was called off In May, the Canadian government as a result. announced that it was investigating In the weeks preceding the resignation of allegations of forced labour in palm oil Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, the plantations and glove factories in Malaysia. crackdown on the right to peaceful assembly intensified.3 Dozens of people were CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING investigated in relation to a “Lawan” protest TREATMENT in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, on 31 July. At least 19 people died in police custody or Many others reported being harassed by shortly after release during the year. A 40- police in their homes. year-old man died in April after being On 2 August riot police blocked 107 hospitalized on release from police detention opposition members of parliament (MPs) the previous month. According to media from entering the parliament building, which reports, the autopsy found that A had been sealed off after the government Ganapathy’s death was due to injuries said Covid-19 cases had been detected. sustained while in police detention. The Police called in for questioning MPs who government claimed that investigations were were part of the protest that led to the ongoing, but no one was charged. According blockade and fined them for violating to government figures, 105 people died in Covid-19 control laws. police custody, prisons and immigration On 19 August, police dispersed a “Lawan” detention centres between January 2020 and vigil for Covid-19 victims and arrested and September 2021. fined 13 people for violating Covid-19 control laws. Two participants were charged under LGBTI PEOPLE’S RIGHTS the Police Act for behaving in “a riotous, The persecution of LGBTI people and indecent, disorderly or insulting manner.” activists continued. In January, the Organizers cancelled a subsequent “Lawan” government said it was considering increased protest. The police nevertheless obtained a penalties for “wrongdoings” by LGBTI people. court order barring 34 activists from entering In June, the government’s “anti-LGBTI task Kuala Lumpur and blocked roads leading to force” warned of action against those the city. “promoting the LGBTI lifestyle.” As of June, 1,733 individuals had been sent to REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS government “rehabilitation” camps run by The harsh treatment of refugees, asylum the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) seekers and migrant workers continued with with the aim of changing the “lifestyle” and immigration raids, arrests, detentions and “sexual orientation” of LGBTI people. In Amnesty International Report 2021/22 243