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Malaysia: ISA detainees demand a
hearing
By Anil Netto
PENANG,
Malaysia - Edmund Bon, a 29-year-old law graduate, is
busy with a case that few lawyers in Malaysia want to
touch. As counsel for a group of alleged militants now
held under Malaysia's harsh security laws, he has filed
habeas corpus applications for the detainees,
several of whom have already spent two years without
trial in a heavily guarded detention center surrounded
by barbed-wire fencing.
Bon, a graduate of
Lincoln's Inn in London who plays soccer during his free
time and jokes that the sport "is the most important
thing in life", is dead serious when it comes to his
clients: "You must give people the chance to defend
themselves in public."
Of the 90-odd alleged
militants held under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in
Malaysia, 15 were held for their alleged involvement in
an arms-heist fiasco three years ago. Another 18 were
arrested in late 2001 for their alleged involvement in a
group that police first labelled the Malaysian
Mujahideen Group, known by its Malaysian acronym KMM,
before later referring to it as the Malaysian Militant
Group.
A further 58, detained in stages from the
end of 2001 to mid-2003, are said to be members of
Jemaah Islamiya (JI) group, which seeks to create a
pan-Islamic state in Southeast Asia and which many
governments have classified as a terrorist network.
For some time now, a coalition of 82
civil-society and rights groups, known as the Abolish
ISA Movement, has been campaigning against this
much-feared law that allows indefinite detention without
trial. They argue that those accused of crimes,
including terrorism, must be allowed to defend
themselves in open court under the basic legal principle
of being "innocent until proven guilty".
This
week 31 detainees, including those who filed the
habeas corpus applications, released a press
statement with Bon's help in which they protested their
innocence. They asserted that they were in no way
involved in any group aiming to set up a pan-Islamic
state comprising Malaysia, Indonesia and the south of
the Philippines, or to overthrow any government by
force. "We categorically deny the accusation and state
that it is false, trumped-up and a story concocted by
the police and the authorities."
The detainees
in Malaysia allege that security officials had
discouraged them from speaking out and harassed their
families, inducing them to believe that silence would
lead to early release.
"[But] we are now
convinced that the authorities have no intention to
release us from detention and any hope or promise of the
authorities was misplaced and false," they said,
explaining why they now need fight for due process and
freedom.
They also denied any knowledge or
involvement in "any purported secret organization known
as Jemaah Islamiya", saying the authorities have not
proved the existence of such an organization.
The detainees said the clearest indication of
this came at the time they were first arrested, when
police said that they were part of KMM. "Now, you do not
hear of that group but only one purportedly known as
JI," they said. "We caution that a lie, when told
repeatedly and parroted by different people, the media,
heads of state and security authorities of various
countries, may soon be believed as the truth, when in
fact it is not."
Instead, the detainees claimed
that they were devout Muslims who engaged in Islamic
activities under the freedom-of-religion provisions in
Malaysia's constitution. For this reason, they felt they
came closest to be considered as imaginary "dangerous
persons".
They detainees say no effort has been
made to provide evidence in open court to support
allegations against them simply because there is no
evidence.
Pointing to the recent release of
alleged former Jemaah Islamiya leader Mohamad Iqbal
Abdul Rahman, they argued: "If an alleged leader of JI
may be released, what more us who have been accused of
allegedly merely being members or followers?"
For now, the detainees are serving out their
two-year detention orders in a camp in the sleepy
industrial town of Kamunting, near the old tin-mining
town of Taiping north of the capital Kuala Lumpur.
When the detention orders of nine of the detainees
expired on Tuesday, they were promptly slapped with
fresh two-year detention orders. One of the detainees,
Nik Adli Nik Abdul Aziz, is the son of the chief
minister of opposition-ruled Kelantan state, Nik Aziz
Nik Mat, spiritual adviser of the Islamic party, Parti
Islam SeMalaysia (PAS).
Deputy Prime Minister
Abdullah Badawi, who is also home affairs minister, said
the nine were still security threats and under
investigation for terrorist links. "They also have links
to certain people who are known to be involved in the
al-Qaeda terrorist network," he asserted.
The
detention center itself is nestled in a deceptively
tranquil setting near the foothills of Bukit Jana, which
rises majestically from the lush tropical landscape.
Outside the camp, a signboard innocuously proclaims,
Tempat Tahanan Perlindungan Kamunting, which
translates literally as "Kamunting Protective Detention
Place".
This is where ISA detainees are sent to
after an initial 60-day interrogation period, if they
are not released. Here, officers from the home ministry
conduct "rehabilitation" programs, including courses on
Islamic teachings, in an attempt to "reform" the alleged
militants.
Unlike in Indonesia, Malaysia has not
formally charged any alleged KMM or Jemaah Islamiya
members in court. The detainees in Malaysia are
particularly peeved that even the alleged group leader,
Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, had the opportunity to defend
himself in court in Indonesia despite the shortcomings
in the trial procedure and overwhelming international
pressure for a conviction.
Though the court
convicted Ba'asyir of treason recently, it found
insufficient evidence to show that he was Jemaah
Islamiya's leader.
Already 10 detainees, represented
by Bon, have filed a string of habeas corpus
applications in court in the hope that they would be
allowed their day in court. Eight of them - Abdullah
Minyak Silam, Abdullah Mohamed Noor, Abdul Murad Sudin,
Abdul Razak Baharudin, Mat Sah Mohd Satray, Mohammad Sha
Sarijan, Nordin Ahmad, and Samsuddin Sulaiman - filed
their applications on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the
High Court sat to hear the habeas corpus
applications by another two ISA detainees, bank officer
Ahmad Yani Ismail and accountant Abdul Samad Shukri.
After prosecutors said they needed more time to respond
to the detainees' affidavits, the court fixed the
preliminary hearing for November 7.
The
remaining detainees are said to be closely monitoring
the progress of these "test cases". Said Bon: "Their
spirits are very high, in the sense that they want to
clear their names and defend themselves."
(Inter
Press Service)
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