Reformasi supporters follow ISA 6, end hunger strike after 11 days

comments     Susan Loone     Published     Updated

A group of reformasi supporters who have been refusing food since April 10 in support of six Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees on a hunger strike against their continued detention, has ended their campaign yesterday.

According to Keadilan Youth leader Low Chee Cheung, the hunger strikers, who had refused food for 11 days, ended their strike in Bukit Mertajam, Penang, while attending a ceremony in appreciation of their sacrifice.

Their decision to stop follows that of the six detainees at the Kamunting Detention Centre, Taiping, Perak, who had started taking solid food brought by their families at 1pm yesterday, said Low.

The ISA six ended their hunger strike two days after a plea from jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, who was concerned about the detainees health, especially as two had been taken ill, according to an AFP report.

Anwar, who started his fast on April 13 in solidarity with the detainees, had issued a letter through his wife and Keadilan president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail on Friday requesting the hunger strikers to start eating.

The two detainees who have been warded in the centres infirmary are Keadilan leader Dr Badrulamin Bahron and malaysiakini columnist-cum-filmmaker Hishamuddin Rais. The other four are Keadilan leaders Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, Tian Chua, Saari Sungib and Lokman Noor Adam.

The six detainees, together with the 15 supporting hunger strikers at the PAS headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, staged a hunger strike on April 10 to mark the first anniversary of their indefinite detention without trial under the ISA.

The six were alleged to have plotted to topple the government by using militant means, though no evidence has been produced against them in open court till today. They claim their arrests were politically motivated to repress dissenting voices in the country.

In ending their hunger strike, though still refusing prison food, the six said it had drawn international attention and achieved its aim of spotlighting the cruelty of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's regime.

"The regime's every movement is now being observed by the international community. The global support has strengthened our determination to continue the campaign to expose Mahathir's cruelty within and outside the country," said a statement they released.

They said they aimed to expose Mahathir's "hypocrisy and corruption" to the US government ahead of his visit to the White House May 13-15, his first since 1994.

No evidence

Meanwhile, the Federation Internationale des Ligues des Droits de lHomme, a French human rights organisation, has sent an open letter to Mahathir, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the detainees.

FIDH criticised the controversial law as a flagrant violation of international human rights standards, calling the government to abolish the ISA and end the repression of political dissent in Malaysia.

The NGO also urged the government to ratify the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention Against Torture.



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