Hindraf worried for Uthayakumar's health

Hindraf worried for Uthayakumar's health

Apr 9, 08 3:26pm

Hindraf legal advisor P Uthayakumar, who is being held without trial under the security laws, has been hospitalised after being denied medication for diabetes, his lawyer said today. Uthayakumar and four other members of the rights group Hindraf have been held at a detention centre in Perak since December after organising an unprecedented mass rally claiming discrimination against ethnic Indians. Uthayakumar, who has been a diabetic for the past 12 years, was admitted to the Taiping hospital in Perak on Monday after his sugar level rose to more than three times the normal level, lawyer Santha Devi Velusamy said. "He was not given his diabetes medicines for the past one month," she told AFP. "He has written six letters previously to the prison's director but the director did not respond in any way. These medicines were prescribed by a doctor in January," she added. Hindraf chairperson P Waythamoorthy, who is also Uthayakumar's younger brother, said that despite his condition he was forced to consume food which was high in sugar and starch. "This is a serious violation of Uthayakumar's rights and is deliberately done to exert torture, cruel and inhumane punishment on him," he said in a letter to the UN human rights commissioner. The five are currently fighting for their release in the country's highest court. Malaysia's home ministry was not immediately available for comment. (AFP)