November 15, 2006
Amateur Videos Are Putting Official Abuse in New Light
The Washington Post reports on an incident where police misconduct captured on tape with a cameraphone - of the humiliating and degrading treatment of Hemy Hamisa Abu Hassan Saari, an innocent woman - circulated to other phones, was posted online and ended up on national television news. High-level government inquiries into the scandal extended as far as China.
"Female detainees had complained for years that Malaysian police humiliated them by ordering nude squats, ostensibly to dislodge anything they might be hiding on or inside their bodies. Even women arrested on minor traffic violations complained of this inappropriate treatment.
Human rights groups protested, but nothing changed, they said. It was hard to get word out about any police misconduct, they said, because newspapers and television stations that require annual government licenses rarely carried unflattering stories about the police. In a nation where the same political party has led the government since 1957, authorities silenced critics.
Then the nude squat video became public and shattered the old balance of power.
Hemy is suing the police for negligence and seeking damages of about $2.7 million.
Yap Swee Seng, executive director of Suaram, a human rights group, said Hemy has a strong case -- one that shows how the common cellphone has shifted power to ordinary citizens. "Five years ago this would have been totally impossible," he said."
Screen capture above of video on YouTube of Hemy Hamisa Abu Hassan Saari and her lawyer seeking compensation.
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/picturephoning/archives/2006/11/014095.htm