Pressure mounts on KL to free detained Islamic militants<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
Pressure mounted on the Malaysian government on Thursday over the
\ndetention without trial of alleged Islamic militants as human
\nrights groups pressed for their release and 16 detainees
\nthreatened to go on hunger strike.<\/p>\n
The New York-based Human Rights Watch urged the government not
\nto renew detention orders on seven men held for alleged
\ninvolvement in terrorist activities when their first two-year
\nterms expire on Friday.<\/p>\n
\"After two years, the government's claim that they must hold
\nthese seven men without charge in order to continue
\ninvestigations no longer makes sense,\" said Sam Zia-Zarifi,
\ndeputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia Division.<\/p>\n
The seven are allegedly linked to the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI)
\nregional terror network blamed for the Bali bombing which killed
\n202 people in October 2002.<\/p>\n
Six other alleged JI members who had completed their first two
\nyears in prison had their detention orders renewed last Saturday.<\/p>\n
The 13 are among more than 90 suspected members of terrorist-
\naligned groups held in Malaysia under the Internal Security Act
\n(ISA), which allows for two-year detention orders to be renewed
\nindefinitely.<\/p>\n
Sixteen others accused of belonging to the local Malaysian
\nMilitant Group (KMM) are threatening to go on hunger strike next
\nweek if they are not freed, the Voice of the Malaysian People
\n(Suaram) said.<\/p>\n
The detainees include Nik Adli, the son of the spiritual
\nleader of the hardline opposition Islamic Party (PAS) Nik Aziz
\nNik Mat, which presents the main challenge to the government of
\nPrime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in elections expected within
\na month.<\/p>\n
\"They will launch their hunger strike on March 1 if the
\ngovernment does not meet their demand,\" Suaram spokesman Yap Swee
\nSeng told AFP.<\/p>\n
Some of the 16 have been accused of serving with militant
\nmovements in Afghanistan and in neighboring Indonesia and police
\nallege they planned to overthrow the Malaysian government.<\/p>\n
Yap said the men, who deny the allegations, had written to
\nAbdullah, who is also the home (interior) minister, to press for
\ntheir release.<\/p>\n
All of them are being held at the Kemunting detention center
\nin northern Perak state under legislation first designed to fight
\na communist insurgency four decades ago.<\/p>\n
Rights groups have long urged the government to scrap the law
\nbut it maintains that detention without trial is needed as a
\nfirst line of defense against terrorism.<\/p>\n
Western governments were in the past also vocal in their
\ncondemnation of the ISA, but protests have become muted as many
\nof them have hardened their own anti-terrorist legislation.<\/p>\n
\"The Malaysian government has taken advantage of the 'war on
\nterror' to justify holding these men indefinitely,\" Zia-Zarifi
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"Given the sad history of abuse under the Internal Security
\nAct, no one can take the Malaysian government at its word. These
\nseven men deserve their day in court.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/pressure-mounts-on-kl-to-free-detained-islamic-militants-1447893297",
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