Freed politician Anwar Ibrahim will be the star speaker in a major new nationwide campaign against the detention without trial of alleged Islamic militants and others in Malaysia, rights activists said today.

The six-month "roadshow" will be launched in the capital Kuala Lumpur on Dec 11 by Anwar and scores of other former detainees under the Internal Security Act (ISA), the Abolish ISA Movement announced.

"Two factors will jumpstart our campaign, namely the release of Anwar Ibrahim and Human Rights Commission's recommendation in 2003 to abolish the ISA," ex-detainee Saari Sungib told a news conference.

"We must make full use of Anwar's release in our campaign to defend rights in this country," he said.

Anwar, who was released in September after six years in jail, told AFP in a recent interview that the government should charge or release all detainees held under the ISA, including more than 80 alleged Islamic militants suspected of links to terror groups.

Many of the detainees are allegedly members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah regional organisation responsible for a series of bombings in Indonesia, including the Bali attacks in 2002. None has been brought to court.

Anwar said he had "no sympathies" for terror suspects if there was evidence against them but added: "We should not allow this terrorism bogey to be used as a pretext by authoritarian regimes to suppress or oppress them.

"Some have been detained for almost four years. They have to be dealt with according to the law, not just because they are suspects and we leave them rotting there for years," he said.

Twice detained

Anwar himself was detained twice under the ISA, first in his student days as a Muslim firebrand and again in September 1998 shortly after he was sacked from the government by then-premier Mahathir Mohamad.

He then served six years in jail on a corruption charge, which he says was trumped up to end his political career, before being freed when the country's highest court overturned a separate conviction and nine year sentence for sodomy.

"We are trying to give room for ex-detainees to share what they have undergone and for members of the public to understand what it means to be detained under the ISA, what happens to the families, the children, their welfare, and their professions," said Saari.

Some 300 ex-detainees are expected to attend the launch of the campaign, which will include a play entitled "I was a victim of the ISA", he said.

The ISA was first enacted by British colonialists fighting a communist insurgency in the 1950s. Critics charge that it has been kept on the books to enable the government to stifle legitimate opposition. Several current detainees are members of the opposition Islamic party PAS.

The government says the act, which allows for two-year detention orders which can be renewed indefinitely, is necessary to prevent terrorism.

In the past, Malaysia regularly came under fire from Western governments over detention without trial but criticism has been muted since the September 11 terror attacks led some countries to impose similar laws.