The Abolish ISA Movement (GMI) has lodged its protest with the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) over the government's agreement for four ISA detainees to testify via video-link at the treason trial of Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir.

GMI coordinator Yap Swee Seng said the organisation was concerned over the circumstances which led to the testimony of the four men who have been detained without trial on allegations that they are members of militant organisation Jemaah Islamiah (JI).

"GMI was informed by the family of Ahmad Sajuli Abdul Rahman (one of the detainees) that he was transferred from the Kamunting Detention Camp to an unknown police remand centre in Kuala Lumpur on many occasions while serving his two-year detention order.

"We question the purpose of the police and the prison authorities in transferring Ahmad Sajuli and urges Suhakam to initiate an investigation to ensure that he was not subjected to maltreatment," he said.

The complaint was received by Suhakam secretary, Kamaruddin Mohamed Baria, yesterday morning at the commission's Kuala Lumpur headquarters.

Illegitimate testimony

Last Thursday, two of the four Indonesian nationals testified by video to the Jakarta court. Sajuli named Abu Bakar as the JI chief while another witness testifying from Malaysia, Agung Diyadi, said he reported directly to another fugitive JI leader, Riduan Isamuddin or Hambali.

The Indonesian cleric, who once lived in exile in Malaysia, has been charged with treason based on an allegation that he heads the Jemaah Islamiah (JI), a regional militant group which aims to overthrow the Indonesian government for a pan-regional Islamic state.

Indonesian prosecutors are believed to have requested the testimonies of suspected militants detained in Malaysia and Singapore after previous witnesses failed to definitely link Abu Bakar to specific acts of terror.

Meanwhile, Yap said the testimonies by the detainees cannot be accepted as legitimate and credible unless they are accorded their fundamental rights and are able to speak on their own free will without fear of repercussion.

"Given the circumstances that these ISA detainees have been detained without trial indefinitely and left practically at the mercy of the police and prison authorities, the credibility and legitimacy of these testimonies are highly doubtful.

"It is even a cruel irony to the detainees to give testimony in someone else's trial when they themselves are deprived of this right to be tried openly and fairly," he said.

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Yap said the act of testifying by these detainees without legal counsel may affect their own attempts to file habeas corpus applications to seek their release.

"The detainees's rights are not only violated because they are not brought to court, but they have also been deprived proper legal counsel as to the consequences of their actions," he said.

Yap urged the government to follow the example of Indonesian authorities in charging suspected militants in court, as was done in the Abu Bakar case.

"We recognise the responsibility of the government in preventing and curbing terrorism. However, putting people in detention without trial not only violates their rights but creates doubts over the real intention of the government," he said.

Last week, the Bar Council also expressed its concern over the government's decision to allow the four detainees to testify by video.

Bar Council chairperson Kuthubul Zaman Bukhari said persons held under the ISA are at the mercy and control of their captors, therefore any confessions made under such circumstances may be tainted with the possibility of duress, coercion or inducement.