The police have moved nine of the 11 Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees, whose two-year detention orders expire tomorrow, from the Kamunting Detention Centre in Taiping to a police remand center in Kuala Lumpur this morning.

Police remand centres are unknown locations where ISA detainees are taken for questioning during the first 60 days of detention.

Abolish ISA Movement (GMI) secretary Yap Swee Seng said no reasons have been given for the transfer.

"Phone calls from the detainees' family members and lawyers to the Internal Security Ministry and the camp authorities have been futile," he said in a statement.

"Both parties have also failed to state clearly if the detainees are going to be released or are going to have their detention orders extended for another two years," he added.

The nine are Azmi Khan Mahmood, Jaafar Saldin, Mat Sah Satray, Mazlan Ishak, Nasaruddin Nasir, Shakom Shahid, Shamsuddin Sulaiman, Syed Ali Syed Abdullah and Yusrin Haiti.

Yap said the other two detainees Agung Biyadi Ahmad Bunyamin and F Muchlis Abdul Halim are believed to be still in Kamunting.

Immediate explanation

Expressing concern over the well-being of the transferred detainees, he urged the government to show greater transparency.

"The families, lawyers and public need an immediate explanation as to the reasons for moving the nine detainees to the PRC on the eve of the expiry of the detention orders because it is causing a lot of unnecessary worries and anxiety," he said.

He also reiterated GMI's call for the unconditional release of all ISA detainees.

Yap said the detainees' fate was similar to the US invasion of Iraq without any evidence of weapons of mass destruction.

"It is not only unjust to the detainees but also exposes the government's hypocrisy in condemning the US invasion of Iraq without evidence of weapons of mass destruction," he added.