KUALA LUMPUR, July 25 ― News agency Al Jazeera has criticised tonight the detention by Malaysian authorities of a Bangladeshi national who was featured in its documentary on the country’s handling of migrants during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a brief statement released on its official Twitter account tonight, Al Jazeera asserted that freedom of expression is a fundamental human right. As a result, it found Md Rayhan Kabir’s arrest “disturbing” because he had chosen to speak up on behalf of “the voiceless and the vulnerable”.
“Al Jazeera finds it disturbing that Bangladeshi migrant worker Mohammad Rayhan Kabir has been arrested for choosing to speak up about some of the experiences of the voiceless and the vulnerable,” the statement read.
“Rayhan Kabir, who featured in Al Jazeera’s 101 East programme Locked Up in Malaysia’s Lockdown, was subjected to abusive online harassment, hate speech and became the target of a manhunt. Authorities say he will be expelled from Malaysia.
“Al Jazeera reaffirms its support to freedom of expression as a fundamental human right — without the fear of being criminalised.”
The Immigration Department confirmed today that Rayhan was arrested by its intelligence unit yesterday afternoon in Setapak here, following a two-week manhunt.
It added that Rayhan will be deported from Malaysia and permanently barred from re-entering the country.
“This Bangladeshi national will be deported and blacklisted from entering Malaysia forever,” said its director-general Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud.
Rayhan had been the target of a government manhunt after his criticisms against Putrajaya’s detention of undocumented migrant workers in an Al Jazeera documentary titled “Locked Up in Malaysia’s Lockdown” which was aired on July 3.
In the 25-minute-and-50-second video produced by Al Jazeera’s 101 East team, he had accused the authorities of racism against undocumented migrants, claiming that being an illegal immigrant in Malaysia is not a crime.
This led to the Home Ministry revoking Rayhan’s work permit in the country, while many Malaysians took to social media to express their anger against Rayhan.
At the same time, Bukit Aman had also called in the 101 East news crew for questioning.
Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador had said that the police and the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) have found that the documentary contained seditious elements.
