A Malaysian's apology to Rayhan Kabir

A Malaysian in a tweet has apologised to Bangladeshi youth Rayhan Kabir who was arrested after criticising Malaysia's treatment of migrant workers during the pandemic in an Al Jazeera documentary.

The tweet came hours after Rayhan returned home from Malaysia. He was in custody of Malaysian immigration police for 27 days.

In a tweet, the Malaysian with the Twitter handle "walski69" wrote: "Dear Rayhan, as a Malaysian I am ashamed that the authorities in my country put you through needless hardship. Please accept my apologies. Not on behalf of anyone else but from me. I am glad you made it home safe and hope you'll see better days to come, God-willing…"  

Dear Rayhan, as a Malaysian I am ashamed that the authorities in my country put you through needless hardship. Please accept my apologies. Not on behalf of anyone else but from me. I am glad you made it home safe and hope you'll see better days to come, God-willing... https://t.co/mavjACv7OA

— Unmasking Walski One Pandemic at a Time (@walski69) August 22, 2020

Many Malaysians commented on the tweet, which was made at 7:39 pm on Saturday. At least 32 people retweeted.

Earlier, representatives of various Malaysian civil society organisations, including Lawyers for Liberty (LFL), also protested against Rayhan's arrest.

On July 3, Al Jazeera published an investigative documentary titled "Locked Up in Malaysia's Lockdown". In the documentary, along with citizens of many other countries, Rayhan gave an interview, which angered the Malaysian authorities.

A warrant was issued against Rayhan Kabir. He was arrested by Malaysian police on the evening of July 24. After 14 days of interrogation, police produced him in court on August 6 and it granted a 13-day remand which ended on August 19. Police said there were no charges against him. Immigration police then decided to send him back to Bangladesh.

Rayhan landed in Dhaka on a Malaysia Airlines flight MH-196 at 1am on Saturday (August 22)