Amnesty International has urged Malaysia to free five activists held under the tough Internal Security Act (ISA) after a rare recommendation for their release by the ISA review board.

The London-based rights advocates said "the review board's statement highlights the misuse of the ISA and provides an ideal opportunity for the government to act to secure the immediate and unconditional release of the five detainees."

Tian Chua, Saari Sungib, Hishamudin Rais, Lokman Nor Adam and Badrul Amin Bahron were recommended for release in early December by the review board of the ISA, a controversial law that among other things allows indefinite detention without trial.

The recommendation followed a Federal Court ruling Sept 6 that three of the detainees had been unlawfully detained from the beginning.

No evidence provided

"The government neglected to act on the Federal Court judgement. It should not let this second opportunity to correct injustice pass it by," Amnesty said in a statement.

The five, critics of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, were detained between 10 and 20 April 2001 and are accused of plotting to "militantly" overthrow the government.

No evidence to support the allegations was ever made public.

Amnesty said the detainees were all vocal government critics and had been involved in opposition politics.

Despite international and domestic calls to abolish the ISA, the government continues to use it as a pretext for regular arrests. More than 4,000 people have been detained under the act since the 1960s.

More than 70 Islamic militants, believed members of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) regional terror network, have been jailed under the ISA since mid-2001.

JI has been linked to the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden and is blamed for the Oct 12 bombing on Indonesia's resort island of Bali that killed more than 190 people. AFP