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| Southeast Asia |
| Malaysia frees 3 suspected Islamic militants |
| 2009-02-15 |
| Malaysia has released three alleged members of a Southeast Asian terrorist network who had been imprisoned without trial for years, a human rights group said Saturday. Businessman Suhaimi Mokhtar was arrested in 2002, engineer Zaini Zakaria in 2003 and businessman Mohd Khider Kadran in 2004 under Malaysia's Internal Security Act - which allows indefinite detention without trial - during a crackdown on the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah network. Southeast Asian security officials said Zaini had withdrawn from a foiled 2002 al-Qaida strike in which he and two others were to pilot planes in a second wave of Sept. 11-style attacks. The trio were freed from a prison Thursday but must report weekly to police and remain within the districts where they live, said Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh of the Abolish ISA Movement. "We welcome their release, but we are concerned with the selective release," he told The Associated Press. There are still about 40 people held under the act, including four suspected Jemaah Islamiyah members, he said. Home Ministry officials could not be reached for comment Saturday. No reasons were given for why the three men were released, but authorities say some suspects were freed in the past after repenting following rehabilitation programs and counseling. The Malaysian government jailed more than 200 suspects between 2001 and 2003, but many have been released over the past few years. Syed Ibrahim said the Abolish ISA Movement plans to hold a rally in March to demand the act be repealed. Critics say the law is abused to silence dissidents, but the government defends it as necessary to protect national security and ensure stability. At Jemaah Islamiyah's peak in early 2000, it had members in several Southeast Asian nations. Officials say the group has been decimated in recent years in a regional crackdown supported by the United States and other Western governments. Among the strikes attributed to Jemaah Islamiyah and affiliate groups are the 2002 bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists; the 2003 and 2004 attacks on the J.W. Marriott Hotel and the Australian Embassy in Jakarta; and the 2005 triple suicide bombings on restaurants in Bali. |
| Posted by:Fred |