Malaysian political prisoners released

[Peter Boyle <peterb@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Amnesty International - Malaysia press release: Prisoners of
conscience released.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE

AI Index: ASA 28/016/2003 (Public) News Service No: 132 2
June 2003

Malaysia: Prisoners of conscience released

Three prisoners of conscience were released from detention
under Malaysia's draconian Internal
Security Act (ISA) yesterday. A fourth detainee also saw the
end of his detention order under the ISA
but remains in prison on other charges.

Saari Sungib walked free, while Tian Chua and Hishamuddin
Rais were transferred and are being held
pending bail on pre-existing charges mostly relating to
unlawful assembly. Mohd Ezam Nor is currently
serving a two-year sentence for a conviction under the
Official Secrets Act. All four were arrested in
April 2001 on what Amnesty International believes were
politically-motivated charges related to their
vocal criticism of the government.

Amnesty International welcomed the releases and applauded
the courage and determination shown by
the detainees and their friends and family. Members of
Amnesty International all over the world, as well
as Malaysian activists and global solidarity groups, have
campaigned for the release of these four men
since their arrest more than two years ago.

"Although we welcome these releases it must be emphasised
that any detention under the current ISA
is illegitimate. These four men have spent more that two
years in detention and separated from their
families without ever having been tried in a court of law,"
Amnesty International said.

The organization also expressed concern that the charges
under which Tian Chua, Hishamuddin Rais
and Mohd Ezam Nor are currently being held have been
selectively applied and are related to the
exercise of freedom of expression and association. Amnesty
International called for the release of
Lokman Adam and Badrulamin Bahron who were arrested in April
2001 on similar charges and whose
two-year detention order expires on 12 June 2003.

"The ISA must be repealed or amended so as to respect
fundamental rights and freedoms including the
right to peaceful freedom of expression, association and
assembly, and the right to a fair and public
trial," Amnesty International said.

The ISA is an unfortunate example of what can happen when
states promote security at the expense of
human rights."

More than 70 people remain in detention under the ISA and
have not been tried in court for any crime.

Background

For decades Malaysia has received international criticism in
relation to its security legislation,
particularly the ISA. The legislation violates
internationally recognised human rights standards, and
has been used against people peacefully expressing their
religious and political beliefs. Allowing for
arrest without warrant and indefinite detention without
trial, hundreds of people have spent years, and
in some cases decades in prison without ever appearing in
court. Through a combination of solitary
confinement, incommunicado detention and aggressive
interrogation techniques some of those same
people have been subjected to physical and psychological
ill-treatment, sometimes amounting to
torture.

Those arrested under the ISA have included opposition
activists, film-makers, students, suspected
"terrorists", labourers, civil society leaders, and
religious scholars. More than forty people have been
arrested under the ISA in 2002. Over 4,000 people have been
detained under the act since the 1960s.