Incitement stands with Heidy Quah. #LawanIntimidasi #MigranJugaManusia

Heidy Quah is the first Malaysian to receive the Queen’s Young Leader Award. She is a social rights advocate and the founder and chief of Refuge for the Refugees, a non-profit organization that aims to raise awareness on the pressing conditions of refugees and provide them support.

Heidy Quah is to be charged on 27th July 2021 for her Facebook post on the harmful conditions in immigration detention centres.

Heidy Quah will be charged at the Cyber Crimes Court, Jalan Duta under *Section 233 (1) of the Communications and Multimedia Act, at 9.30AM on 27th July for her Facebook post from June 2020 on the conditions in immigration detention centres. Heidy is the founder of Refuge for The Refugees, an organisation working with refugees for the past 9 years and who has delivered aid and support to thousands of Malaysians, migrants and refugees over the past 1 ½ years.

Background:

On 5th June 2020, as mass immigration raids were taking place, she shared in a Facebook posting the experiences of a woman who was detained in immigration detention with her newborn baby. She also echoed the serious concerns documented and reported by the national human rights commission, SUHAKAM, and numerous other human rights organisations over many years – that immigration detention centres in Malaysia are overcrowded, unhygienic and harmful.

Instead of investigating and addressing these serious concerns, the government has chosen to charge Heidy in court. At the same time, arrests of migrants and refugees continue, and conditions in immigration detention remain harmful.

📢 CALL TO ACTION 📢

  • Post a message on social media in solidarity with Heidy Quah
  • Use the hashtags #LawanIntimidasi and #MigranJugaManusia
  • Suggested messaging: Stop attacking human rights defenders! / Investigate & address the harms caused by immigration detention / Solidarity with Heidy Quah

Message from Heidy

” I stand by my comments on the harms of detention centres. As daily positive cases hit an all-time high, it is unfortunate and frustrating that the government’s energy and resources are spent on investigating me, when it should be spent focusing on the three Ps: the Parliament, the Pandemic and the People.

*While this charge has shaken me up, I will go forward with courage tomorrow – I will not be silenced for speaking up*