Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Malaysian dubs claims of abuse as 'mischievous'
Associated Press Kuala Lumpur, May 19
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Wednesday denied allegations by suspected Islamic extremists that they were routinely stripped naked, slapped, kicked and subjected to sexual abuse by police interrogators while in detention.
Abdullah stressed the abuse claims should not raise comparisons to the torture of Iraqi prisoners by US Troops in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, Malaysian media reported on Wednesday.
"There are no such abuses, there is no such thing," Abdullah was quoted as saying. "I dare say, no mistreatment like that of the prisoners in Abu Ghraib will ever happen here."
Detainees made the charges of abuse in a human rights document obtained last week by The Associated Press that provides the most detailed accounts of alleged abuses since Malaysia began rounding up suspected terrorists nearly three years ago.
The government is holding about 100 people at a prison camp under security laws that provide for indefinite detention without trial. About 70 of those are alleged Islamic militants, many of them suspected members of Jemaah Islamiyah, a group linked to Al-Qaeda and blamed for attacks that have killed hundreds of people in Southeast Asia.
Thirty-one of the detainees signed a complaint listing 57 types of alleged abuse that was lodged with the government's Human Rights Commission in January.
© HT Media Ltd. 2004.