The United States, once a prominent critic of Malaysia's use of its Internal Security Act (ISA), have fallen silent on the issue, shamed by its own recent record at Guantanamo Bay, a New York-based rights group lamented today.

According to Reuters , Human Rights Watch, in a report condemning Malaysia's detention without trial of people deemed security threats, quoted an unnamed US State Department official as saying Washington had quit putting pressure on Malaysia by the end of 2003.

"With what we're doing in Guantanamo, we're on thin ice to push on this,'' the report quoted the senior State Department official as telling Human Rights Watch in December 2003.

The rights group said that the silence had been taken by Malaysia as a green light to continue detaining people indefinitely without charge.

"A (Malaysian) cabinet minister told Human Rights Watch that the US no longer criticises Malaysia's use of the ISA because of US detention practices at Guantanamo Bay," the report added.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz said the US had stopped pressuring Malaysia to end its use of the ISA.

"They are not happy if we release ISA detainees because they think that we are not cooperating in the fight against terrorism,'' he told Reuters .

"If the Americans feel strongly we should retain the ISA, then we should cooperate with them."

ISA 'a recipe for abuse'

Detainees in Malaysia have been beaten and humiliated under the notorious security law which is a "recipe for abuse", Human Rights Watch said.

The rights group compiled accounts of the abuse in December 2004 of more than 25 people being held under ISA, which allows for indefinite detention without trial.

"Those held under the ISA are defined as a group that has virtually no rights, so it is hardly surprising that prison guards treat them as less than human," said Brad Adams, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division.

"Malaysia's Internal Security Act, which gives the government unchecked powers to detain individuals for long periods without charge, is a recipe for abuse," the group said.

Mohamad Faiq Hafidh, who has been held since January 2002, said he had been continuously beaten at Malaysia's infamous Kamunting prison over two days in December.

"I was handcuffed ... and my head was pushed down to waist level. My head was struck with a baton and my eye was hit, injuring it," he said in the statement.

"When I reached room seven (of the cell block), I was continuously beaten and then forced to strip naked, ordered to crawl while entering the room and then my buttocks were kicked and that was how I stumbled inside, naked," he said.

Marking the 45th year the ISA has been in operation, former detainees said in August that they were routinely tortured during interrogations, stripped naked, beaten with broomsticks and threatened with rape.

Pressure group Abolish ISA Movement (AIM) said some detainees had their heads bashed against the wall, needles stuck in their fingernails and nails inserted into their genitals. Some were forced to re-enact the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and made to drink urine, it said.

Human Rights Watch said no prison officials have been disciplined following the revelations and that the government denied its requests for an interview or to visit Kamunting.

"Malaysia's policy amounts to the executive branch presuming the guilt of people without charge or trial," Adams said in a statement.

Law used to silence critics

The government has misused the ISA "to silence critics", resulting in the detention of more than 10,000 people since 1960, he said.

"Malaysia should end its use of ISA detention and rely on its robust criminal law and capable judiciary to tackle security and other alleged crimes," Adams said.

"Malaysia aspires to be a leader in the region and a developed country by 2020. The ISA is not a sign of leadership or development - it is a sign of repression," he said urging the government to set up an independent inquiry into the allegations of abuse.

The ISA allows for two-year detention periods without trial, which can be renewed indefinitely.

According to Kuala Lumpur-based rights group AIM, the government has extended for two years the detention of six alleged Muslim militants who have already been held without trial for four years.

The detainees include Nik Adli, the son of Kelantan chief minister Nik Abdul Aziz of the opposition Islamic party PAS.

As of this month, Malaysia has 112 ISA detainees, including 65 alleged members of Asian Islamic militant network Jemaah Islamiah, nine alleged members of local militant group Kumpulan Militan Malaysia, 22 detained for counterfeiting currency and 13 accused of document falsification, Human Rights Watch said.

One detainee, BSA Tahir, is alleged to have worked with Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan to sell nuclear secrets, and there are two women, including Norawizah Lee Abdullah, wife of Indonesian JI member Hambali, now in US custody, it added.