The Abolish ISA Movement (AIM) has criticised the Home Ministry for failing to explain its grounds in ordering the detention of five Karachi students alleged to be members of Jemaah Islamiah under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

AIM secretary Yap Swee Seng said in a statement that the ministry has not made any official announcement of the five and neither has it released the detention orders for the five students to explain the reasons behind the students' detention.

"AIM condemns the non-transparent practice of the police and the Home Ministry. This breeds corruption for power and human rights violations," he said.

The students - Muhammad Radzi Abdul Razak, 19, Mohamad Akil Abdul Raof, 21, Eddy Erman Shahime, 19, Abi Dzar Jaafar,18, and Mohd Ikhwan Abdullah, 19 - were ordered to be detained under Section 8 of the ISA on Dec 8.

They were among an initial group of 13 students who were detained under the ISA after they returned from Pakistan where they also served time (for over a month) on suspicion of involvement in militant activities.

However, eight of the students have been released in two batches of four, with the latter group receiving two-year restricted residence orders which limit their movements to the district where their family homes are located.

Family access

Meanwhile, Yap also raised issue over the unknown detention location of the five students despite being issued with two-year ISA detention orders.

He said they should have been sent to the Kamunting Detention Centre in Perak where all ISA detainees are held.

Yap said the youths are still being held at a police remand centre "somewhere around Kuala Lumpur" although they should have been sent to Kamunting and placed under the custody of prison authorities.

"AIM demands an explanation from the home minister and the police as to why the students are still being held at an unknown location and whether they are still being interrogated by the police.

"If the students are still being questioned by the police on their involvement in Jemaah Islamiah activities as alleged by the government, (this shows that) the investigation is still in process and not concluded. Then, on what basis did the home minister make the extension of their detention orders?" he questioned.

According to AIM, four of the youths have been give family access over the past two weeks. The family of the fifth student, Eddy Erman, is scheduled for a visit on Monday.