Int'l lawyers join call for abolition of ISA<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): International human rights lawyers on
\nTuesday deplored Malaysia's harsh Internal Security Act (ISA)
\nwhich has been used against detained deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim
\nand other individuals.<\/p>\n
\"Anything that deprives an individual of basic rights is a
\nconcern for us. The ISA is a threat to those basic rights,\"
\nSayyad Mohyeddeen, director for the Justice International
\nCommission on Human Rights (JICHR) said at a news briefing.<\/p>\n
The JICHR, an international organization of human rights
\nlawyers headed by Queen's Counsel John Platts-Mills, said they
\nfully supported a call made by Malaysian colleagues in the 7,800-
\nstrong Malaysian Bar Council to abolish the ISA.<\/p>\n
Platts-Mills, a noted barrister of recent decades, said the
\ngroup would raise the recommendations of the Malaysian Bar
\nCouncil to the British Bar Council.<\/p>\n
The Malaysian Bar Council held a special meeting at the
\nweekend which called for the release or charging of all persons
\ndetained under the ISA, which provides for indefinite detention
\nusually without trial.<\/p>\n
The arrest on Monday of the head of a Moslem intellectual
\ngroup under the ISA has brought to 18 the number of people
\ndetained under that law since Anwar was arrested on Sept. 20.<\/p>\n
Anwar and four others are still being held under the ISA.
\nThe JICHR said they hoped to return before Nov. 2 in time to
\nobserve Anwar's trial for four corruption charges.<\/p>\n
\"I have never known a case where there is so much interest
\naround overseas, \" Platts-Mills said.<\/p>\n
The two lawyers said that their group had no wish to obstruct
\nproceedings in Anwar's case. The JICHR team met Anwar's family on
\nSaturday.<\/p>\n
\"We have also been instructed by the family to assist or help
\nour fellow professionals in the observance of rule of law and
\nsecuring justice which also involves their own rights of practice
\nwithout harassment or hindrance,\" Mohyeddeen told AFP Monday.<\/p>\n
Anwar's lawyers filed an appeal on Tuesday challenging a
\ncourt's refusal of bail, as Malaysia told foreign nations not to
\ninterfere with Anwar's forthcoming trial.<\/p>\n
No date has been fixed for hearing the appeal. A High Court
\njudge had refused bail when Anwar, the former deputy prime
\nminister, was arraigned Oct. 5 on 10 counts of corruption and
\nillegal homosexual acts. Anwar pleaded innocent to all charges.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Malaysian Foreign Minister Abdullah Badawi
\ndescribed as \"unacceptable\" what he called attempts by foreign
\nnations to interfere in Anwar's trial, which has been set for
\nNov. 2, newspapers said.<\/p>\n
\"This is one example of interference we cannot accept,\"
\nAbdullah said in comments to local reporters Monday evening.<\/p>\n
He was referring to a report that a man claiming to be a U.S.
\nsenator had made a phone call last week to Justice Augustine
\nPaul, the High Court judge conducting Anwar's trial, the
\nnewspaper New Straits Times said.<\/p>\n
The caller told the judge that justice must be seen to be
\ndone, the daily said, and the judge reported the call to police.
\nSuch a call is \"tantamount to interference as though we do not
\nunderstand the law and are unable to enforce the law well,\"
\nAbdullah said.<\/p>\n
No other details were available about the reported phone call.<\/p>\n
Malaysia has repeated assurances that Anwar, who challenged
\nPrime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's 17-year reign, will be given a
\nfair trial.<\/p>",
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