Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was barred from meeting the six Internal Security Act detainees who are staging a hunger strike at the Kamunting Detention Centre in Perak today.

The opposition leader told malaysiakini that she had tried to negotiate in vain for four hours with the centres authorities.

She was accompanied by Keadilan Penang chief Dr Mansor Othman, his deputy Cheah Kah Peng and the partys deputy Youth chief Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

According to her, she was told by an official that there was no need to visit the detainees as they were in good condition and visited by a doctor daily.

However, their families have claimed otherwise. They said the detainees were suffering from rapid weight loss and that their health was rapidly deteriorating.

Meanwhile, Wan Azizah said she was concerned about the six, who have been on a hunger strike for the past eight days, and wanted to meet them to satisfy her conscience.

She added that she also wanted to talk to the detainees about their action.

Wan Azizah said she has a letter from her husband, jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, concerning the hunger strike.

AFP reported that in the letter, Anwar urged the six detainees to end their hunger strike after two of the detainees were hospitalised and put on intravenous drips.

"Anwar has called on them to stop the hunger strike. He is worried about their health, especially after two of them have been hospitalised," Azizah told AFP .

"I think they would adhere to Anwar's call," she said.

The six, Keadilan leaders Tian Chua, Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, Saari Sungib, Lokman Noor Adam, Dr Badrulamin Bahron and malaysiakini columnist-cum-filmmaker Hishamuddin Rais, are serving a two-year detention order for allegedly planing to topple the government through militant means.

The detainees have denied the charge and claimed that their arrests were politically motivated.

They began their hunger strike on April 10 to mark the first anniversary of their incarceration and to demand that they be released or charged in open court.

Merciless detention

In a related development, the Abolish ISA Movement (GMI) submitted a memorandum to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, today on the merciless detention of the six without trial.

Throughout their detention, the police are more interested in changing their political stand rather than investigating their alleged involvement in activities allegedly prejudicial to the security of the country

By default, the governments non-action and non-response illuminate the fact that it wishes to see these six hunger strikers to their graves, read the memorandum.