A new law has gone into effect in Taiwan which offering more rights to people who have been arrested or detained. The law allows more people the right to request a hearing on whether or not they should be detained.
The previous law, which was in place for nearly 70 years, only applied to defendants in criminal cases. But the new law applies to foreigners who are residing illegally in Taiwan, military personnel who have been detained, and people with mental disabilities or communicable diseases who have been placed in isolation at a hospital.
The president of the Judicial Yuan, Rai Hau-min explained.
“As long as a person has been arrested or detained by any organization other than the courts, regardless of whether he or she is suspected of a crime, then he or she, or any third party, can request a hearing either in writing or verbally, and it is free,” said Rai.
According to the new law, if a request for a hearing is not passed on to the courts, then the government employee who failed to forward the request could face up to three years in prison.