Another nine Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees have vowed to begin a hunger strike next week if they are not released or charged for their alleged offences.

Their lawyer Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, who visited them at the detention camp in Kamunting, Perak, today, said they will join 12 others who plan to resume their hunger strike next week if their demands are not met.

NONE She said the nine detainees - all Malaysians from Tawau, Sabah - decided to join the fast after realising the impact of the hunger strike initially undertaken by their fellow detainees.

Fadiah ( right ), who met with the detainees for two hours today, said besides the nine Sabahans, she also spoke to Indonesian detainee Mustawan Ahbab and Sri Lankan detainee Anthony Sackarayas Natkunam, who both joined the earlier hunger strike.

“They fasted for eight days and appear to be quite weak, but have told me that they are willing to undergo it again and are willing to die,” she said.

The detainees broke their fast last week, when a National Human Rights Comission (Suhakam) team visited them. The team will make another visit next week to check on the detainees.

Suhakam it would speak to Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and the respective embassies on the matter.

Besides the two foreigners, others who took part in the hunger strike were Malaysian detainee Fadzullah Abdul Razak, an Iraqi and eight other Sri Lankans.

Fadiah named the nine Sabahans intending to begin their hunger strike next week as schoolteacher Mohd Nazri Dollah, Muhd Adnan Umar, Muhd Abduh Umar, Muadz Hakim, Azmi Tintantun, Darto Bandu and another schoolteacher, Bakar Baba. 

They were nabbed in November last year, months after Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak announced his intention to repeal the ISA, for alleged involvement in the Darul Islam group and are to be held until 2014.  

“They informed me that (the wardens) told them to inform their families that they would be released in March, but nothing happened,” she said.

Forced confessions?

She said the group was accused of trying to topple the government, with Mohd Nazri, who was teaching at  SMK Kinabutan, accused of possessing arms and explosives.

Another detainee claims mistaken identity. "He said the police were looking for someone named Joni @ Muaz Paterno, but his name is Muadz Hakim,” Fadiah said.

He said her clients claimed that they were previously discouraged from asking for representation.

“They were told that a lawyer would charge them RM10,000 so as to get them to tick the box waiving their rights to legal representation,” she said.

While the detainees could not go into detail of their cases, they also informed her that they were made to sign confessions but were not allowed to read the contents of the confessions.

“They couldn't tell me much about this as the warden was in the room with us, but when the warden left for a brief while, they told me they were beaten up and kicked around to make them sign the confessions,” Fadiah said.

She added that this had allegedly taken place during their 60-day remand period at the Bukit Aman police headquarters.

Hisham: Hunger strike a bid to hijack transformation plan