UPDATE (MALAYSIA): U.N. Letter-Writing Campaign for the Release of ISA Detainees

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear

I would like to bring to your attention the manner in which the Malaysian government is using the draconian Internal Security Act to control public life and civil society and to undermine and suppress dissent and open debate among its people.

Since 1960 when the act was passed, thousands of people, including trade unionists, student leaders, labour activists, political activists, religious groups, academicians and NGO activists, have been arrested under the ISA.

The ISA provides for “preventive detention” without charge or trial for an indefinite period of time, violating the right of a person to defend himself in an open and fair trial. In the initial 60-day “interrogation” period, the detainee is usually kept in solitary confinement and denied access to lawyers and family visits. This violates people’s fundamental rights, contradicts all principles of justice and undermines the rule of law.

Former detainees have testified to being subjected to physical and psychological torture during this interrogation period. This may include one or more of the following forms of abuse: physical assault, sleep deprivation, round-the-clock interrogation and threats of bodily harm to family members, including the detainee’s children. Prolonged torture and deprivation have led to detainees signing state-manufactured “confessions” under severe duress.

In June 2001, six political and social activists were served orders for two years of detention without trial under the ISA after their initial 60-day period of inhumane solitary confinement expired. They are:

1. Tian Chua, vice president of the National Justice Party and a labour activist; detained on April 10; ordered to two years of detention without trial on June 2, 2001.

2. Mohd. Ezam Mohd. Nor, national youth chief of the National Justice Party; detained on April 10; ordered to two years of detention without trial on June 2, 2001.

3. Hishamuddin Rais, journalist, columnist and social activist; detained on April 10; ordered to two years of detention without trial on June 2, 2001.

4. Saari Sungib, national leader of the National Justice Party; detained on April 10; ordered to two years of detention without trial on June 2, 2001.

5. Dr. Badrul Amin, national leader of the National Justice Party; detained on April 20; ordered to two years of detention without trial on June 13, 2001.

6. Lokman Adam, youth leader of the National Justice Party; detained on April 24; ordered to two years of detention without trial on June 13, 2001.

Under the ISA, the home minister can renew the detention order every two years for an indefinite length of time.

The six detainees were among 10 activists detained at various times in April 2001, just days before the second anniversary of the conviction of the former deputy prime minister and an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, Anwar Ibrahim, on April 14, 2001. The 10 men, together with pro-reform activists, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and political parties, were preparing an event to forward a formal complaint and memorandum to the National Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM) on April 14, 2001, on the state of human rights in Malaysia.

The police released two detainees voluntarily while the Shah Alam High Court ordered the release of two others on May 30.

I appeal to you, as the two highest U.N. officials for the defence of human rights, to take the following action:

1. Intervene in the detention without trial under the ISA of these six activists and to request that the Malaysian government immediately release them;

2. Send the U.N. special rapporteur on torture, the special rapporteur on freedom of expression and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to Malaysia to investigate the use of the ISA and the condition of the detainees;

3. Follow up on the recommendations made to the Malaysian government by the special rapporteur on freedom of expression during his visit to Malaysia in 1997;

4. Query the Malaysian government in U.N. meetings about their accountability for the gross violation of human rights in Malaysia; and

5. Strongly and unequivocally recommend to the Malaysian government that it abolish the ISA.

Sincerely yours,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTER TO:

Mr. Kofi Annan

Secretary-General

United Nations Room S-3800

New York NY 10017

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Fax: 1-212-963 4879/2155

E-mail: ecu@un.org

Mrs. Mary Robinson

Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Palais des Nations

8-14 Avenue de la Paix

CH 1211 Geneve

Switzerland

Fax: (41) 229170213

E-mail: webadmin.hchr@unog.ch

Please mark “ATTENTION MR. KOFI ANNAN and MRS. MARY ROBINSON”

* Please send copies of your letter to: wkpeng@pc.jaring.my and ua@ahrchk.org.