Pressure mounts on KL to free detained Islamic militants
Pressure mounts on KL to free detained Islamic militants
Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur
Pressure mounted on the Malaysian government on Thursday over the
detention without trial of alleged Islamic militants as human
rights groups pressed for their release and 16 detainees
threatened to go on hunger strike.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch urged the government not
to renew detention orders on seven men held for alleged
involvement in terrorist activities when their first two-year
terms expire on Friday.
"After two years, the government's claim that they must hold
these seven men without charge in order to continue
investigations no longer makes sense," said Sam Zia-Zarifi,
deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia Division.
The seven are allegedly linked to the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI)
regional terror network blamed for the Bali bombing which killed
202 people in October 2002.
Six other alleged JI members who had completed their first two
years in prison had their detention orders renewed last Saturday.
The 13 are among more than 90 suspected members of terrorist-
aligned groups held in Malaysia under the Internal Security Act
(ISA), which allows for two-year detention orders to be renewed
indefinitely.
Sixteen others accused of belonging to the local Malaysian
Militant Group (KMM) are threatening to go on hunger strike next
week if they are not freed, the Voice of the Malaysian People
(Suaram) said.
The detainees include Nik Adli, the son of the spiritual
leader of the hardline opposition Islamic Party (PAS) Nik Aziz
Nik Mat, which presents the main challenge to the government of
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in elections expected within
a month.
"They will launch their hunger strike on March 1 if the
government does not meet their demand," Suaram spokesman Yap Swee
Seng told AFP.
Some of the 16 have been accused of serving with militant
movements in Afghanistan and in neighboring Indonesia and police
allege they planned to overthrow the Malaysian government.
Yap said the men, who deny the allegations, had written to
Abdullah, who is also the home (interior) minister, to press for
their release.
All of them are being held at the Kemunting detention center
in northern Perak state under legislation first designed to fight
a communist insurgency four decades ago.
Rights groups have long urged the government to scrap the law
but it maintains that detention without trial is needed as a
first line of defense against terrorism.
Western governments were in the past also vocal in their
condemnation of the ISA, but protests have become muted as many
of them have hardened their own anti-terrorist legislation.
"The Malaysian government has taken advantage of the 'war on
terror' to justify holding these men indefinitely," Zia-Zarifi
said.
"Given the sad history of abuse under the Internal Security
Act, no one can take the Malaysian government at its word. These
seven men deserve their day in court."