Hunger Striker denied medicine inside CIC: Is this a violation of human rights?

Hunger Striker denied medicine inside CIC: Is this a violation of human rights?

Written by AP (@gongnui on Twitter)
Original: link 

Castle Peak Bay Immigration Centre.

On 16 December, Salman Ahmed Sani had his court hearing, during which he spoke of being denied medical care, his hunger strike of more than 5 months, and despite completing his sentence in March still being detained with no end in sight.

This court hearing was in regards to Salman’s Writ of Habeas Corpus regarding his indefinite and arbitrary detention at CIC, also known as Castle Bay Peak Immigration Centre. The CIC is classified as a detention centre, but detainees say the conditions are far worse than prison. Salman himself wrote in a previous letter, “The condition of the detention centre is much worse than Hong Kong prisons. In fact, this is a torture centre and not a detention centre, with no value to human life or the sufferings of human beings.”

Salman was allowed to give an initial speech, where he said he submitted most of his concerns in writing (which he repeated throughout the hearing). He stated how frustrated he was not knowing his case’s progress or why is still detained although he has fully served his sentence. The government lawyer stated to the judge the reason Salman continued to be detained was that he had a ‘high chance of re-offending’ due to his previous serious charges of drug trafficking and other motor/vehicle violations. The lawyer also stated that Salman “has no obvious local connection’ and therefore could easily go underground without reporting back to police if he were released. Not only is ‘no local connections’ a completely illogical reason to arbitrarily keep Salman under detention, but the ‘high chance of re-offending’ is also untrue. Salman could not attend some court dates because his illness was so bad, and in one instance was the victim of a kidnapping case. Salman stated again he had fully served his sentence, and found it very bewildering why others with “bigger crimes” had less detention time than him.

The government lawyer also said that Salman had been provided with proper medical care - completely false, as Salman’s medicine has been withheld from him for over 8 months, worsening his serious arthritis condition. The CIC gave him alternative medication, which caused Salman allergies instead of alleviating his condition. Only a day before his hearing did the CIC finally begin to give Salman his correct medication, which is plainly a last-minute attempt to pretend they had given him proper medical care. In his previous letter, Salman also wrote that there were no social distancing or proper pandemic measures in place at the detention centre. “I came to Hong Kong to save my life but the Director/Secretary deliberately put my life in this dangerous situation amid COVID-19 pandemic … They are clearly gambling with my life.’

After explaining how they denied his medicine and worsened his illness, his voice became overcome with emotion. He said “Either deport me or release me.. I can’t take this pain any further.”  His letter says in 20 years in HK, he had not harmed anyone, only helped the community. In Salman’s letter, he wrote that he was an informant for the police for over 10 years. Yet, the government continues to treat him as an asylum seeker (therefore not allowed to work in Hong Kong). The police informant work was related to drug trafficking and very dangerous. Salman also wrote, “The Security Bureau and DOJ should have appreciated me but instead I have been labelled a threat and security risk to the Hong Kong community with no regard to the danger that I have gotten myself into from the international drug mafia.”

Lastly, it was quite clear throughout the hearing that the translator did not manage to provide clear context to Salman for the questions the judge asked. There were no overt mistakes but the translator had little to no knowledge of Salman’s case; for example, at one point Salman talked about the staff, implying abusive actions close to torture. Instead, what the translator said was ‘He wants to complain about the behaviour of the staff.’ Such translations severely undercut the seriousness of what Salman faced. 

From @priyankaisakutti’s perspective: The present system for interpretation lacks care and consideration for people like Salman who are up against immovable forces and have to self-represent without legal aid, proper resources or time to prepare themselves for a hearing that can literally determine their life or death. (Salman wrote in his letter “I have lost 31 KG of my body weight. I already have developed heart disease …My muscles are collapsing… I am committed to giving up my life rather than to be imprisoned.”). @priyankaisakutti continued: Interpretation should involve explaining context and should empower such people to be able to tell their whole story and express their grievances, instead of rushing them through an already difficult process, and limiting their ability to convey all of what they really want to say. After all, for those who have been silenced through arbitrary detentions, denial of medical care, and hunger strike, being able to speak freely is most important. Please thank the very amazing and hardworking @priyankaisakutti for this thread, and her work as a volunteer translator. She is the one who sat in on the court hearing, I have only summarised her notes. Please also follow @noCICHK, the CIC Detainee’s Rights Concern Group.

The full letter that Salman published on December 10 is available here: https://lausan.hk/2020/open-letter-from-detainee-at-castle-peak-bay-detention-center/

And the original can be found here: https://facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=217761566491210&id=108829650717736

There is also some coverage of the story by RTHK in English here: https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1565579-20201216.htm 

And in Chinese by InMedia here: https://inmediahk.net/node/1079617