KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — No cases of custodial deaths reported in immigration and police detention centres were the result of suicide or assault, Home Minister Senator Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said today.

He said all the deaths were linked to health reasons.

"From the Immigration Department, there were 20 detainee deaths from January 1 to January 18, consisting of nationals from Bangladesh, India, Iraq, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia.

"I was informed of this through the findings of post mortem reports and all were cases related to health problems,” Saifuddin told Parliament during his winding-up speech for the debate on National Human Rights Commission’s (Suhakam) annual report from year 2022 to 2023, today.

As for the police, he said there were 24 deaths recorded from year 2022 to May 25 this year.

"They were Covid-19 deaths, TB (tuberculosis) and heart problems. There were no suicides, no hanging, police assault is zero (cases) too,” he said.

Saifuddin was responding to PKR’s Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim, who asked the government on the number of deaths in custody.

It was reported in 2022 that up to 456 custodial deaths had occurred in 2020.