Malaysia Should Set Our Human Rights Record Straight When Condemning The Detention Without Trial Practiced By US In Guantanamo Bay
The statement of Parliamentary Secretary of Foreign Affairs Shabery Cheek in Parliament yesterday that there is no demand for the abolition of the Internal Security Act (ISA) and that ISA detention cannot be compared to the detention in Guantanamo Bay reflects his great ignorance over the demands made by various foreign and local organizations, including SUHAKAM on the abolition of the Act.
Shabery Cheek said that the cruelty and grave human rights violation in Guantanamo Bay, such as the stamping and flushing of Quran pages in the toilet is something unheard of in ISA detention.
Shabery Cheek must have conveniently forgotten that there are sworn affidavits from ISA detainees stating that they were forced to drink urine, and one was stripped and made to enact the crucification of Jesus Christ.
He told parliament the Secretary General of United Nations has demanded the detention center in Guantanamo Bay to be closed but no demands were made for the ISA be repealed.
The fact remains that detention at Guantanamo Bay and Kamunting Camp are detention without trial.
I am surprised that Shabery Cheek seems ignorant that ISA has tarnished the image of Malaysia in the international community. Many resolutions, condemning the Malaysian government for using ISA to detain political dissidents, have been passed in many international conventions in the past, including Socialist International World Conference, Convention of Council of Liberal Democrats (CALD), International Parliamentary Union (IPU) Conference etc.
The stress and hardships suffered by detainees and their family members in Guantanamo Bay and Kamunting Detention Camp are the same. The long detention and mental torture suffered by the detainees have even driven them to mental breakdowns. This is the similarity of both Kamunting Detention Camp and Guantanamo Bay.
While the Malaysian government has requested the US Government for a fair trial of the two Malaysians who are suspected to be involved in the al-Qaeda terrorism activities, we should set out human rights record straight by repealing detention without trial under the ISA.
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‘No demand for abolition of ISA’(malaysiakini yesterday)
Was foreign affairs ministry parliamentary secretary Ahmad Shabery Cheek being well, cheeky, in claiming that “no one has demanded that the Internal Security Act (ISA) be abolished”?
He delivered this astonishing response, when replying to Teresa Kok (DAP-Seputeh), who wanted to know if Malaysia would abolish the ISA in tandem with the government’s condemnation of human rights violations at Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
Ahmad said the ISA should not be equated with the US military base in Cuba, where terror suspects have been held for years without trial.
He also said there has been rampant violation of human rights violations in Guantanamo Bay, but not in Malaysia.
Another difference, he pointed out, was that, while there have been demands from human rights organisations to close down the base, “no one has asked for the ISA to be abolished”.
(This is in spite of well-publicised pressure by rights groups, detainees’ families, opposition parties and the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia to seek repeal of the security law which provides for indefinite detention without trial.)
“Issues related to violation of human rights at Guantanamo Bay, which have been condemned by the world, are something unheard of in the context of the ISA here,” he said during the Question session..
“Newsweek reported that the Quran was stamped on, ridiculed and flushed down the toilets (in the detention camp).Such things are unheard of here.”
He also confirmed that two Malaysians are among those detained. The US government told Wisma Putra on Sept 7 last year that the duo are Mohd Farik Amin and Mohammed Nazir Lep.
They were among 14 others who were moved from secret locations by the Central Intelligence Agency to the base, and are suspected to be members of terror groups Al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah.
“The government through its embassy in Washington DC has requested the US government that they should receive a fair trial when tried (by a special court),” he said, adding that the proceedings would be monitored by Malaysia.