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.