CHAPTER 1 regarding the proposal to have an advisory board comprising relevant individuals and parties to give advice to the authorities on the preservation of arts and cultural works in the country. The MOTAC also requested the Commission to actively promote cultural rights as embedded in the ICESCR to Malaysians. The Commission is very much favourable to this request and intends to duly fulfill it. 3. DEATH IN PLACES OF DETENTION The right to life is the most fundamental right among other rights and a nonderogable right. During the year, the Commission received two complaints on the issue of death in places of detention. In one case, the Commission received a complaint on the death of a prisoner, 27-year-old Azri Mohamed, at Pengkalan Chepa Prison. The family of the deceased was not satisfied with the post-mortem result, which found that the deceased had died of an infection in his intestines, and managed to get a court order for a second post-mortem to be conducted at Kuala Lumpur Hospital in October. For the purpose of inquiring into the complaint, the Commission visited Kelantan from 20-22 September, during which the Commission met with Pengkalan Chepa Prison’s Director and officials, the Prison’s in-house medical team, several prisoners, the Police Investigation Officers, the Director and a medical officer of Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital, as well as the family of the deceased. Based on the finding of the inquiry, the Commission recommended to the Prison on 7 October, inter alia, to address the problems of overcrowding and unhygienic foods at Pengkalan Chepa Prison as the two could have probably been factors that aggravated the poor health of the deceased, in addition to the late medical treatment given to the deceased. In this regard, the UN Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners 1990 sets out that “prisoners shall have access to the health services available in the country without discrimination on the grounds of their legal situation”. The Commission calls upon the authorities to implement the Commission’s recommendations made in the Commission’s study entitled “Prison Healthcare in Malaysia: Results of a Nationwide Survey and Report 2016”. On 15 August, the Cambodia Daily reported that two Cambodian women alleged that they had been beaten by the detention centre personnel when they were being detained at Juru Immigration Detention Centre26. They also claimed to have witnessed several detainees die in the detention centre from physical abuse inflicted upon them. Following that, the Commission undertook a joint visit with EAIC to the detention centre on 22 August to inquire into the allegation. Although the inquiry did not find any evidence of fatal abuse, the Commission, however, recommends the Immigration Department to expedite and prioritise the construction of the new detention centre to replace Juru Immigration Detention Centre in view of the poor condition of the latter; to 26 Accessed on https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/maids-claim-fatal-abuse-malaysian-depot-116653/ 60 SUHAKAM ANNUAL REPORT 2016 suhakam 2new.indd 60 3/23/17 5:54 PM