Malaysia releases 4 Jemaah Islamiyah terror suspects held without trial, rights group says

The Jakarta Post

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Malaysia has released four alleged members of a Southeast Asian terror network who had been imprisoned without trial for more than five years, a human rights group said.

The men were arrested in late 2002 under the Internal Security Act - which allows indefinite detention without trial - during a crackdown on the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah network.

The Malaysian government jailed more than 200 militant suspects between 2001 and 2003, but many have been released in batches over the past few years.

Four more detainees - Bakkery Mahhamud, Mohd Zamri Sukirman, Sabri Jaafar and Zamzuri Sukirman - were freed from a prison center on Dec. 19 on the condition that they report regularly to police and remain within the districts where they live, the Abolish ISA Movement said in a statement late Friday.

It was believed to be the third release this year of militant suspects held under the ISA without trial. Activists estimate a total of eight others were freed in June and August, but authorities did not publicly announce their release.

Internal Security Ministry officials could not immediately be contacted.

Authorities have said in some previous cases that suspects were freed after they repented following rehabilitation programs and counseling that ISA detainees typically undergo.

Malaysian opposition and human rights groups have repeatedly called for the ISA to be repealed, saying the law is abused to silence dissidents. The government has said it is necessary to protect national security and ensure stability.

The Abolish ISA Movement said it was "concerned by the conditional and selective release of the ISA detainees."

"There are scores of detainees who are still being detained ... for the same allegations as those who were released," the group said. "None of them has been tried in a court of law, but sentenced by the Internal Security Minister to indefinite detention without trial."

At Jemaah Islamiyah's peak in early 2000, it had members in several Southeast Asian nations, though officials say the group has been decimated in recent years in a regional crackdown supported by the United States and other Western governments.

Among the strikes attributed to Jemaah Islamiyah and affiliate groups are the 2002 bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists; the 2003 and 2004 attacks on the J.W. Marriott Hotel and the Australian Embassy in Jakarta; and the 2005 triple suicide bombings on restaurants in Bali.

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