A Malaysian High Court has upheld a Coroner Court’s ruling that Orhions Ewansiha Thomas, a Nigerian scholar, died while in detention as a result of natural causes.

Malaysian immigration officers had arrested Thomas, a PhD student at Limkokwing University, and 19 others in Kepong, Selangor, on July 4, 2019. Despite showing the officers his passport, they held him in detention after verifying its validity.

“I find that the court did not commit any misdirection. The decision is affirmed and the review application is dismissed,” Azhar Abdul Hamid, a presiding judicial commissioner, said.

Pavitra Loganathan, Thomas’ family lawyer, said that the family would decide on the next course of action to take.

“We have to get instruction from the family if they want to move forward with the appeal or move on,” Loganathan told FMT.

READ ALSO: Nigerian Awarded N1.5m in India After 22-Month Wrongful Imprisonment

Rajesh Nagarajan, a lawyer representing Thomas’ family, told the court that the immigration officers’ negligence led to Thomas’ death.

“His friend, who was also an inquest witness, told the court that Thomas wanted to get his passport from his car near the restaurant but immigration officers mistook it as an attempt to escape,” Nagarajan said in June.

“He has a valid passport and documents, but immigration (officers) still arrested him for ‘inspection of documents.’”

Thomas died in the Bukit Jalil immigration depot on his fifth day in detention. The immigration department reported that he experienced a seizure before his death on July 9, 2019. They denied any foul play.

Nagarajan noted that Thomas was an obese person, weighing about 130kg, and the officers forced him to do jump squats during the period of his detention, which caused him to collapse. He also said that the authorities gave Thomas the wrong medication for his high blood pressure.

READ ALSO: Nigerian Gets N60m for Spending Extra 9 Months in Icelandic Prison

A Coroner Court ruled that Thomas died of a heart attack.

Kamarul Aris Kamalluddin, the deputy public prosecutor, told the court that the immigration officers were not to blame. Kamalluddin also dismissed accusations of assault but admitted that the response to Thomas was slow.

“They tried their best to give him CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) until the paramedics arrived,” Kamalluddin said.

“Maybe, he could have been saved if immediate assistance was provided.”