Asylum seekers launch hunger strike in Malaysia<\/p>\n
Agencies, Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
More than 130 asylum seekers from several Asian countries
\nlaunched a hunger strike in a Malaysian detention center on
\nMonday to protest the conditions and press for release, rights
\ngroups said on Monday.<\/p>\n
The 139 refugees, who include Acehnese from Indonesia, Myanmar
\nnationals, Thais, Afghans and Nepalese, complained to the
\nNational Human Rights Society (HAKAM) of overcrowding, poor
\nsanitary conditions, rotten food and having to sleep on dirty
\ncement floors.<\/p>\n
\"We can't take it anymore. Just one day being in here feels
\nlike a year,\" an Acehnese asylum seeker known only as Nasir told
\nAFP by mobile phone from the camp.<\/p>\n
Nasir, who has been at the Semenyih camp in central Selangor
\nstate for more than a year, said the cramped conditions in the
\ncamp contributed to the swift spread of illnesses.<\/p>\n
\"We are not going to eat or drink anything until we are
\nreleased. I would rather die than remain in this camp for a
\nminute longer,\" he said.<\/p>\n
HAKAM said in a statement it was \"gravely concerned to receive
\nthe complaints which border on inhumane treatment and contravene
\ninternational human standards on refugees and places of
\ndetention.\"<\/p>\n
\"The detainees are also asking that they be released because
\nthey are not criminals. They are here to seek temporary asylum
\nuntil the situation improves in their home country,\" Elizabeth
\nWong, HAKAM secretary-general, told AFP.<\/p>\n
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) sent
\nofficers to the camp Monday after hearing about the hunger
\nstrike, UNHCR deputy representative Carolin Verma said.<\/p>\n
\"We are in touch with the (asylum seekers) on a regular basis.
\nBut we immediately sent our officers there when we heard about
\nit. Hopefully they will end their hunger strike,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Camp commandant Ariffin Mat Nor told The Associated
\nPress that there was no hunger strike by the detainees.<\/p>\n
\"Some of them asked to see me, and they asked to meet with UN
\nofficials,\" Ariffin said. \"There is no strike.\"<\/p>\n
The Semenyih camp, about 40 kilometers from Kuala Lumpur, has
\nbeen the center of controversial attention in recent years.<\/p>\n
In 2003, opposition leader and rights activist Irene Fernandez
\nwas convicted of \"publishing false news\" and sentenced to one
\nyear in jail for an investigative report, mostly profiling the
\nSemenyih camp, that alleged dilapidated conditions and corrupt
\ndetention officials.<\/p>\n
A riot broke out in the same facility in 1998 when the
\nAcehenese immigrants tried to resist a mass deportation plan by
\nthe Malaysian government, killing at least five detainees and a
\ncamp official.<\/p>\n
Rights activists claim the camp often holds too many people
\nand is badly managed.<\/p>",
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