Explain reasons for deporting exile Pakistani journalist, Suaram tells Immigration DG
Syed Fawad Ali Shah
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Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) executive director Sevan Doraisamy said the immigration director-general should take responsibility for the deportation process of Syed Fawad Ali Shah.
"The director-general has the responsibility to explain what transpired the deportation.
"Its shouldn't be this way as its against international obligations," he told Sinar Daily.
He further said it was a shame as Malaysia should be defending human rights. Malaysia has been elected to the United Nations Rights Council for 2022 to 2024.
Sinar Daily is awaiting comments from the immigration director-general Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud on the whereabouts of Syed Fawad.
Fawad's wife, Syeda told Sinar Daily that her husband has been missing since August 23 and was in Kuala Lumpur to look for him.
She said a missing persons’ report was lodged by his friends in September.
Syeda said she was told by the Malaysia police that Fawad had been deported. However, she said Fawad could still be in Malaysia as no one could produce his flight tickets.
"Where is my husband? What crime did he commit? He was writing articles on corrupt practices," she said.
Syeda said she married Fawad secretly through an online ceremony to prevent Pakistani authorities from finding out and spent a month in Langkawi in Feb 2021. She then returned home and continued the long distance relationship.
However, she noticed his disapperance August and his phone has been off since then.
In 2008, journalist Fawad started exposing corruption within Pakistani officials. After his life was threatened, he left for Malaysia to seek refuge.
Fawad came to Malaysia in 2011 through Thailand and was eventually granted refugee status by UNHCR.
In an interview with FMT, he said he first encourtered problems in 2008 when he decided to investigate cases of missing persons.
His work eventually led him to believe that the authorities were involved in the disappearance of several individuals, many of whom were accused of everything from spying for the Americans and Indians, to working for the Taliban.
While he worked on other articles he continued to pursue cases of missing persons. In 2010, he was detained for 18 days and interviewed by officers carrying ISI files.
Fawad was eventually released with a warning: stop writing about missing persons, and give up journalism.
