The Abolish ISA Movement (GMI) welcomes the release of three Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees - allegedly Jemaah Islamiah members - by the government last Thursday but raised questions as to their 'selective release'.

GMI, an activist body which highlights the plight of those detained without trial under the ISA, pointed out that although it was good that the three have been released, there were still scores of persons being detained at the Kamunting Detention Centre which it dubbed 'Malaysia's Guantanamo Bay'.

GMI secretary Chang Lih Kang said today they were informed by the government that the three suspected Malaysian JI members - in detention since 2002 - were released on Thursday. They were Amzi Khan Mahmood, Shakom Shadid and Nordin Ahmad.

Chang said the government also released four Indonesian nationals in June who were deported to Indonesia immediately. All four were permanent residents of Malaysia. Another alleged JI member, Al Bakri Mohd Alias, a Malaysian, was released, in March this year.

Chang said GMI welcomed the eight releases which he said were due to a persistent public campaign calling for the release of those detained under the ISA.

"However, GMI is annoyed by the selective release of these ISA detainees," said Chang, adding that all ISA detainees should either be released or charged in an open court.

He pointed out that neither the alleged JI detainees released to date nor the ones who are still being detained had been proven guilty by the courts.

'A political tool'

There are still 53 alleged JI members being detained at Kamunting, said Chang.

They were detained by the government between late 2001 and 2003 following the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001.

One JI member was released last year, followed with 11 more releases this year, including three who were deported to Singapore and subsequently detained under that country's own ISA.

Still under detention are six alleged members of the Kumpulan Militan Malaysia from a total of nine who were detained during the same period. Three of them were released in September last year.

Twenty-two others persons who are being held under the ISA for forging currency, 14 persons for falsification of security documents, one for alleged involvement in the southern Thailand insurgency and one for alleged involvement in the nuclear weapons black market.

.Chang said that the use of the ISA was arbitrary and had 'nothing to do with national security'.

"The selective releases further confirms that the ISA is only a political tool to silence dissidents and critics of the government."

"For a country that promotes human rights, there is no room for detention without trial," he said.