KUALA LUMPUR: Conditions are poor at best. The walls are steaming hot during the summer, and in winter freezing cold. A former prisoner held under the now repealed Internal Security Act (ISA) explained to Bikyamasr.com. His comments come as at least 10 detainees still being held by the government under the ISA have launched a hunger strike, demanding their immediate release from the Kamunting Detention Camp, the human rights group Suaram said. “I think it is good because at least they are putting pressure and I know how bad it will get in just about a month,” said the former prisoner. Suaram reported that family members told the organization the detainees would continue the hunger strike, now in its fourth day, for as long as they remain in the detention center. “The hunger strike is the detainees' last resort as they just want the government to release them,” Suaram executive director, Nalini Elumalai, was quoted by local Malaysia media. “The ISA has already been repealed, so why are they still detained under that Act? If there is no evidence that they did anything wrong, then the government should have just released them. “To this date, none of them were charged in court since their detention,” she added. Nalini further pointed out that while Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein had said last month the ministry would consider releasing ISA detainees, no action has yet been taken. “Suaram urges the Home Ministry to charge the detainees in an open court to resolve the hunger strike crisis and release them immediately,” she aded. She also called for the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) to investigate the matter and publish their findings, saying that Suaram was unable to obtain the full details of the hunger strike as well as the detainees involved. On April 17, Hishammuddin pledged to “look into the possibility” of releasing those currently detained under the ISA once its replacement law comes into force.
