A group of Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees have sent a letter to the Malaysian Council of Muftis urging it to declare the law haram (prohibited).

The 22 detainees also called on council member Harussani Zakaria to condemn the regulations at the Kamunting detention camp in Perak, where ISA detainees are held.

They urged Harussani to "review the law from the viewpoint of Islam and to state whether of not the rules and regulations were illegal or inconsistent with syarak (Syariah laws)".

In the 10-page handwritten appeal, dated Aug 5, the detainees said they were remanded for 60 days under the ISA based merely on police suspicion and without an arrest warrant.

"When the police arrested us, they just said they believe we had conducted activities which could threaten national security.

"However we ourselves don't know what we did that amounted to the allegations," read the letter, a copy of which was made available to malaysiakini .

A majority of the signatories are allegedly members of the Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) and Kumpulan Mujahiddin Malaysia (KMM), which is said to be linked to the former.

JI, touted as the Southeast Asian wing of al-Qaeda, has been blamed for a string of terrorist attacks, including the Bali bombings which killed 202 people in October 2002.

'Torture' recalled

The detainees also described their alleged ordeals during interrogation sessions and their inhumane living conditions during the initial 60 days.

"At times we were kept in tiny cells without being let out for up to seven days. It is also in these cells that we slept, showered, prayed, ate and eased ourselves," they said, adding that some cells did not have water and toilets.

They further claimed that the investigative officers imposed mental, emotional and spiritual torture on them in a bid to extract information.

"The officers threatened to arrest our wives and family while not allowing us to see them. We were also deprived of proper praying privileges," they said.

According to the detainees, some of them already serving their second two-year imprisonment term, these were among the techniques used by the authorities to coerce confessions from them while fabricating their testimonies to justify the prolonged detention.

Quoting Islamic verses, the group expressed their sincerity in urging the Council of Muftis to do the right thing and address their plight.

Previously other detainees have also made similar claims of torture in the hand so of their captors ( see chart ).

The government issued a two year detention order against them based on the findings following their 60-day initial detention. Under the ISA, there is no requirement to charge a suspect in court and the government can choose to extend the detention.

"The investigations and interrogations were conducted by people who cannot be trusted. Facts were distorted and lies fabricated, which no one, not even the courts are allowed to challenge it," said the detainees.

Elaborating on the alleged torture they had suffered, they said: "We were forced to strip while being questioned, slapped, kicked, spat on, forced to perform sexual acts, had our beards burnt, almost sodomised, made to lick water of the floor like dogs, accused of being Hindus and more."

Financial woes

The detainees also related the financial problems faced by their families, resulting in some of their children being forced to quit school and their properties confiscated.

"Our families are continuously disturbed by the police special branch unit and are endlessly tailed. When they come to visit us at the detention centre, we aren't allowed to sit with them or eat the home cooked food they bring," they said.

They added that some of their families come from as far as Sabah, Kelantan and Johor to visit them but are only allowed 45 minutes.

"Because of the travel costs some us only get to see our loved ones only once a year and only for three quarters of an hours," they lamented.

The detainees, who claim that they cannot perform their Friday prayers, want the Council of Muftis to intervene and ensure that justice is upheld.

"We have not been given the chance to defend ourselves in a court of law despite our calls on the government to do so," they said.

The authorities have previously denied that ISA detainees are subjected to torture and have defended , amid widespread criticism, the need for the 44-year-old security law.