FAC News - Saturday, February 2, 2002 9:49 AM

Dr Badrulamin’s only crime is to speak out against injustice : SUARAM

In a press statement released on 1 February 2002, Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM) said it is angry and shocked over Dr Badrulamin Bahron’s continued victimisation under the notorious Internal Security Act (ISA). It also condemned the move to re-arrest him and send him back to the Kamunting Detention Centre.

SUARAM said it is of the opinion Dr Badrulamin’s only crime is to continue to speak out against injustice. SUARAM added it had appealed to Madam Mary Robinson, High Commissioner for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to intervene urgently into the continued arbitrary use of the ISA, especially since September 11.

"We regret that the Government has not acted to charge him and the other five ISA detainees in an open court, after incarcerating them for almost ten months without trial under the ISA’" said Suaram.

"Suaram reiterates its position that the ISA violates fundamental rights, goes against the right of a person to defend his/herself in an open and fair trial, is immoral, cruel and condones torture. It has become convenient and fashionable for the Malaysian government to prosecute members of the public without trial, and link them to terrorist movements, including the Al-Qaeda."

"We deplore the continuous inconsistency of the Mahathir regime, as shown once again through recent events. While, on the one hand, Dr Mahathir has protested the United States inhumane treatment of Al-Qaeda prisoners in Guantanamo bay, and lambasted the recent NEWSWEEK report for Malaysian connections to the September 11 attacks, he continues to act unashamedly by arbitrarily detaining people without trial under the guise of national security."