[prisoner-rights] Malaysia: Detainees held without charge or trial

Extended Detention Without Trial Violates Due Process

(New York, June 20, 2006) -- The Malaysian government must either charge
or release the scores of detainees held indefinitely under its draconian
1960 Internal Security Act (ISA), Human Rights Watch said today. Earlier
this month, the authorities extended by two years the detention of eight
men already held for four years without charge or trial.

In early June the government extended the detention of Azmi Khan Mahmood,
Jaafar Saldin, Mat Sah Mohd Satray, Shakom Shahid, Yusrin Haiti, Mazlan
Ishak, Syed Ali Syed Abdullah, and Shamsuddin Sulaiman, who have been
detained without trial since April 2002.
 
The government accuses all eight of being members of Jemmah Islamiah, a
militant Islamist group. In early 2006, the government extended the
detention of 17 other ISA detainees accused of belonging to Jemmah
Islamiah.
 
On February 20, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi called on the United States
to close Guantánamo Bay detention center, Human Rights Watch noted as it
reiterated its call for the Internal Security Act to be repealed and for
those detained under it to be charged, tried or released.
 
“Abdullah has urged the U.S. to close Guantánamo, yet his own government
is holding detainees indefinitely without charge or trial,” said Brad
Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch. “The Malaysian government must
charge or release these detainees.”
 
Kamunting Detention Center in Perak holds more than 100 ISA detainees
without charge or trial. More than 60 of the detainees are accused of
associating with Islamist groups such as Jemaah Islamiah and Kumpulan
Mujahiddin Malaysia.

The government has recently expanded its use of the Internal Security Act
to include individuals accused of counterfeiting and forging documents.
 
Many detainees have now been held for more than four years without trial
or any judicial review of the merits of their detention.
 
“Indefinite detention causes extreme hardship for detainees and their
families,” said Adams. “It is cruel, contrary to human rights standards,
and should end.”
 
The wife of an ISA detainee, whose detention has been extended after he
was already held for four years in Kamunting told Human Rights Watch:
“This was very cruel. The government did not explain to my husband why his
detention was extended. He was very sad. I am sad. I have not yet told our
13-year-old son. He will be very upset. He was looking forward to his
father’s release.”
 
“The government has all the power,” she added. “I don’t know what we can
do. If my husband did anything wrong, then charge him. Why make us all
suffer this way?”
 
In December, the United Nations special rapporteur on the promotion and
protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering
terrorism, Martin Scheinin, expressed concern that the “ISA is not in
accordance with international human rights standards,” and requested
information from the Malaysian government on whether the law will be
amended or repealed.
 
Since 1960 the Internal Security Act has been misused by the ruling United
Malay National Organization to silence critics, resulting in the detention
of more than 10,000 people, some of whom have been held for up to a
decade. Some ISA detainees have alleged that they have been tortured and
ill-treated, including more than 25 ISA detainees who alleged that they
were beaten and humiliated by prison guards in Kamunting Detention Center
in December 2004.

Human Rights Watch Press release