Wives of a group of Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees have asked Women and Family Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil to convince Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to release their husbands.

The ISA family support network and the Abolish ISA Movement (AIM) today submitted a memorandum urging the minister to convey to Abdullah their pain and suffering due to the detention of the heads of their families.

"As a minister who has been appointed to take care of the welfare of women, we ask you to urge (Abdullah) to release all detainees as soon as their two-year detention period ends. Let them return to their families. This is the only way to resolve the problems faced by their wives and children," they said.

The memorandum was received by Shahrizat's political secretary Dr Abu Bakar Omar at the ministry in Kuala Lumpur this morning.

Regular harassment

In the memorandum, the ISA wives said the detention of their husbands have resulted in endless problems for them and their children.

"There are an estimated 500 children, 95 percent of whom are below the age of 20, who have to face the trauma of having their fathers in detention," they said.

As an example, they referred to the case of 18-year-old Abdul Muaz Abdul Samad who was hospitalised recently for mental illness triggered by his father's detention.

Muaz has been warded at the Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia psychiatric ward two weeks ago as a result of his illness.

His father, Abdul Samad Shukri Mohamad, has been brought to see him on two occasions but doctors have said that the visitation periods are insufficient to relieve the stress faced by Muaz.

Aside from this, the ISA wives also alleged that they have been harassed by the special branch officers who arrested their husbands.

"All sorts of threats have been received from these officers which are intended to scare the women who are already suffering because of their situation."

They said the wife of another detainee, Maimun Mohd Zahari, was forced to undergo interrogations even though she had just given birth to her fourth child. As a result, they claimed Maimun later suffered from post-partum depression.

The memorandum was countersigned by 14 ISA wives whose husbands' detention orders are due to expire in the next two months. All the detainees were arrested and detained between Dec 2001 and January 2002 on allegations of involvement in militant activities.