Muslim edict demanded on Malaysian
detention law By Anil
Netto
PENANG, Malaysia - A group of suspected
militants, detained indefinitely without trial under
Malaysia's draconian Internal Security Act (ISA), has
called on the head of the national muftis' council to
declare the law illegal under Islam after they allegedly
were forced to strip, perform sexual acts and lick water
off the floor while under police interrogation. Their
written call has received the backing of Muslim
activists campaigning against the law.
The 22
detainees, all of them Muslim, who wrote the letter last
week want the muftis to review the law from the
viewpoint of Islam and to state whether or not the rules
and regulations were illegal or inconsistent with Sharia
(Islamic laws).
The detainees complained they
were remanded for 60 days under the ISA, based merely on
police suspicion that their activities were prejudicial
to national security. They also claimed they were
subjected to harsh treatment at the hands of
interrogators. They said they were slapped, kicked and
spat upon; they said they were subjected to other
degradations - stripping, peforming secual acts and
licking water from the floor.
Their grievances
were listed in a 10-page handwritten letter, a copy of
which was made available to independent news portal
Malaysiakini.com. Muslim activists have lent support to
the detainees' call for the muftis to make a ruling or
issue a fatwa (edict) on the ISA.
"Theirs
is definitely a very valid request, because so far the
muftis have not taken any position on the ISA," said
Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh, the chairman of the Abolish ISA
Movement (GMI) working committee. "The muftis may have
given opinions - that the ISA is against Islam - but
they have not come up with an [official] position or
fatwa."
Most of the detainees are alleged
to be members of the regional terror network Jemaah
Islamiya (JI) and another local group initially referred
to as Kumpulan Mujahideen Malaysia (KMM), and later as
Kumpulan Militan Malaysia (Malaysian Militant Group).
The US-based Human Rights Watch has urged the
Malaysian government to allow independent monitors into
its detention centers. "US abuse of detainees in Iraq,
Afghanistan and Guantanamo shows what can happen behind
closed doors," Sam Zarifi, the group's deputy director
for Asia, told reporters in May.
Human Rights
Watch said Malaysian police interrogators have used the
US camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba as a threat. Detainees
who refused to "cooperate" with Malaysian security
officials were told they could be transferred to US
custody there, the report says.
The authorities
have not provided any concrete proof to the public as to
the existence of these groups in Malaysia and activists
say the detainees should be allowed to defend themselves
in open court.
Officials have always denied
mistreating detainees held under the ISA, which allows
for virtually indefinite detention without trial. Some
100 detainees are being held under the ISA at the
Kamunting Detention Camp, north of Kuala Lumpur. The
majority of them are Muslims who were detained for
alleged involvement in militant groups.
The ISA
has also been used against those involved in passport
forgeries and counterfeiting.
Detainees are sent
to the center on renewable two-year detention orders for
"rehabilitation" after the initial 60-day interrogation
period.
Authorities argue that the ISA, a
"preventive detention" law enacted in 1960 to deal with
a communist insurgency at the time, is still needed to
deal with the threat of terrorism and extremist groups
and that conventional laws are inadequate.
Opponents of the law, for their part, say the
ISA violates basic human-rights principles, especially
the right to a fair trial. Former detainees have
provided consistent testimony outlining a litany of
mental, if not physical, abuse while in custody -
especially during the first 60-day interrogation period.
On July 26,
an unprecedented public debate on the ISA was held, pitting the
minister in the Prime Minister's Department,
Nazri Abdul Aziz,against parliamentary opposition leader Lim
Kit Siang. The forum, dubbed "The Great Malaysia
Debate", drew a capacity crowd of 1,000 people at a public
hall in Kuala Lumpur (see At last, the 'Great Malaysian Debate'
, July 30).
Nazri argued that the ISA was needed
as the internal security minister - a post currently
held by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi - would not
have the "courage" to arrest those suspected of
threatening national security if the ISA detention order
was subjected to judicial review.
"The minister
must be given the discretion to decide on the order,
irrespective of whether it is right or wrong," said
Nazri. "He must be made to feel at ease when deciding on
the detention order." Nazri also argued that if the
people had not agreed with the ISA, they would not have
kept giving the ruling coalition a mandate to govern the
country.
One of the most vocal Muslim groups
campaigning against the ISA is Jamaah Islam Malaysia
(JIM), an Islamic missionary group. Its president, Zaid
Kamaruddin, said: "The whole idea is to get a clear
edict or fatwa from the muftis on the question of
the ISA.
"The main issue is detention without
trial, where a detainee is held without the right to
clear himself - we believe it is contrary to Islamic
principles," he said.
JIM visited several muftis
last year, and a request was made to them to issue a
fatwa. The group handed over a book by JIM's
founder and president and ex-ISA detainee Saari Sungib,
who wrote a series of books on his detention experience
in 2001. One of them was titled ISA: Forbidden
(Haram) Laws Must Be Repealed - What Is the Stand of the
National Fatwa Council?
"To have an official
Islamic stand [on the ISA] would be important," Zaid
argued. "That would be the one the government would have
to respond to."
