Asylum seekers launch hunger strike in Malaysia

Asylum seekers launch hunger strike in Malaysia

Agencies, Kuala Lumpur

More than 130 asylum seekers from several Asian countries
launched a hunger strike in a Malaysian detention center on
Monday to protest the conditions and press for release, rights
groups said on Monday.

The 139 refugees, who include Acehnese from Indonesia, Myanmar
nationals, Thais, Afghans and Nepalese, complained to the
National Human Rights Society (HAKAM) of overcrowding, poor
sanitary conditions, rotten food and having to sleep on dirty
cement floors.

"We can't take it anymore. Just one day being in here feels
like a year," an Acehnese asylum seeker known only as Nasir told
AFP by mobile phone from the camp.

Nasir, who has been at the Semenyih camp in central Selangor
state for more than a year, said the cramped conditions in the
camp contributed to the swift spread of illnesses.

"We are not going to eat or drink anything until we are
released. I would rather die than remain in this camp for a
minute longer," he said.

HAKAM said in a statement it was "gravely concerned to receive
the complaints which border on inhumane treatment and contravene
international human standards on refugees and places of
detention."

"The detainees are also asking that they be released because
they are not criminals. They are here to seek temporary asylum
until the situation improves in their home country," Elizabeth
Wong, HAKAM secretary-general, told AFP.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) sent
officers to the camp Monday after hearing about the hunger
strike, UNHCR deputy representative Carolin Verma said.

"We are in touch with the (asylum seekers) on a regular basis.
But we immediately sent our officers there when we heard about
it. Hopefully they will end their hunger strike," she said.

Meanwhile, Camp commandant Ariffin Mat Nor told The Associated
Press that there was no hunger strike by the detainees.

"Some of them asked to see me, and they asked to meet with UN
officials," Ariffin said. "There is no strike."

The Semenyih camp, about 40 kilometers from Kuala Lumpur, has
been the center of controversial attention in recent years.

In 2003, opposition leader and rights activist Irene Fernandez
was convicted of "publishing false news" and sentenced to one
year in jail for an investigative report, mostly profiling the
Semenyih camp, that alleged dilapidated conditions and corrupt
detention officials.

A riot broke out in the same facility in 1998 when the
Acehenese immigrants tried to resist a mass deportation plan by
the Malaysian government, killing at least five detainees and a
camp official.

Rights activists claim the camp often holds too many people
and is badly managed.