Recounting the events leading up to his younger brother’s death, Kamaruzzaman Shafie said a doctor from the Melaka Hospital, where Khairol Azman had been admitted, had contacted him.
The doctor, he said, had asked him to come over immediately to discuss the condition of Khairol’s health.
“When I got to the ward around 9pm, I looked through the window and noticed he was motionless. The machines and monitors were also turned off,” he said when met at Suhakam’s office, where he handed a memorandum to the rights commission asking it for help to probe his brother’s death.
Also present were Wong Yan Ker, a representative from rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram), and Gerakan Guaman Rakyat (Gegar) spokesman Azha Salahuddin.
Kamaruzzaman, a contractor, said he was informed by another doctor on duty that Khairol was pronounced dead at 8.40pm, a few minutes before he arrived.
He expressed disappointment with the prisons department and the hospital for keeping the family in the dark over Khairol’s health condition while he was still in custody.
Kamaruzzaman said he did not know that his brother was hospitalised much earlier – on April 6. Neither was he informed that Khairol’s health had deteriorated, let alone hospitalised.
Meanwhile, Wong said information pertaining to Khairol’s death had been very minimal, and the family wanted to know exactly what happened in the prison.
He said they had been writing to the prisons department in Melaka for clarification, but had received no response.
Suaram and Gegar also requested for a meeting with law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar and inspector-general of police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani to discuss the matter.
Khairol was arrested on Oct 17, 2021 for allegedly threatening to cause grievous hurt and was later charged with criminal intimidation. He was sent to the Sungai Udang prison pending the hearing of the case.
On April 6, Khairol was admitted to the Melaka Hospital as his health deteriorated. He was pronounced dead on April 13 due to a “ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm”.