Investigation into Raja Petra’s son’s injury

(The Star) - The Prisons Department has lodged a police report to enable an investigation into whether Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin’s son was mistreated in prison.

Home Minister Datuk Hishammuddin Hussein said he had personally directed department director-general Datuk Zulkifli Omar to lodge the report following various claims of abuse against Raja Azman that have been made over the Internet.

He said the findings of the probe would be announced once the investigations were completed to provide a true account of how Raja Azman was injured and if he had been abused while in prison.

“I told the Prisons director-general that he should lodge a report to allow the police to investigate the matter because if the people will not believe his account then we will bring in a different authority to look into, and shed light on, the matter,” he told a press conference here Friday.

It was reported that Raja Azman, 34, who was being held under remand at the Sungai Buloh prison, was rushed to the Sungai Buloh Hospital on Tuesday after he was believed to have swallowed a razor blade and injured his wrists.

The Prisons Department claimed that there were no signs of torture, abuse, pressure or force inflicted upon him, but various blogs and the international media had claimed that foul play was involved.

Raja Petra himself had alleged on his news portal that prison authorities had physically and mentally tortured his son and that was why he resorted to such drastic action.

Hishammuddin said that Raja Azman’s arrest was not conducted with malice in mind as indicated by some and that he was picked up for his involvement in a theft case.

“He even admitted to his involvement in the theft when he was taken to court, so there is no question of the arrest being made due to some hidden purpose,” he said.

Raja Azman, the second child of Raja Petra, had in May last year pleaded guilty at the Kuala Lumpur Magistrates Court to four separate counts of theft, receiving stolen property and criminal trespass.

However, he changed his plea to not guilty in June last year.