A United Nations working group has recommended that five students being held under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in Malaysia be released immediately.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, in a June 30 decision, said that "the incommunicado detention without trial of the detainees is a violation of their fundamental human rights".

The group, which was established in 1991, is part of the UN Commission on Human Rights and is made up of five international experts on arbitrary detention.

However, the working group's decision may not be binding as Malaysia is not a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention against Torture

The move was nevertheless welcomed by an international human rights organisation, which had filed the complaint on the matter to the UN working group.

In a press release today, the Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) urged the Malaysian government to comply with the UN's decision.

On Nov 17 last year, the FIHD and Kuala Lumpur-based Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) filed a complaint with the UN working group.

UN's mandate

The working group has the mandate to investigate the complaint and it must obtain accounts of the case from the government of the country in question.

The case was on five of the 13 Malaysian students who were arrested on Nov 10, 2003 at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport after returning from Pakistan. Eight of them have since been released.

They were arrested under the ISA, which allows for detention without trial, for suspected links to terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah after they were deported by the Pakistani authorities in September 2003.

They have since been detained for over eight months and were being held at the Federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur when last met by a commissioner from the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam).

The five students are Mohd Akil Abdul Raof, 22, Eddy Erman Shahime, 20, Abidzar Jaafar, 19, Mohd Ikhwan Abdullah, 20, and Mohd Radzi Abdul Razak, 20.

The UN working group's decision argued that the detention was arbitrary.

"The (Malaysian) authorities should produce them before a competent and impartial court and present evidence of their alleged acts or release them immediately if evidence cannot be provided...

"The working group considers that the administrative detention on such grounds, even being in conformity with a domestic law means to deny the opportunity of a fair trial by an independent and impartial judiciary authority."

Gov't should take heed

FIDH president Sidiki Kaba said that the decision by the working group was a great victory for human rights defenders in Malaysia since it goes beyond the individual cases at stake.

"The UN body has questioned the legality of the ISA under international human rights law."

Suaram, which is a member organisation of umbrella-body FIHD, hopes that the Malaysian government views this decision holistically and implement it, not only in the case of the five, but other ISA detainees as well.

"We urge the Malaysian government to ... bring the five before court or release them immediately (and) in addition... act the same way for the more than 100 people presently detained under the ISA" said Cynthia Gabriel, executive director of Suaram, who is also the deputy secretary-general of FIDH.

FIDH was set up in 1922 and is a federation of 116 human rights organisations in nearly 100 countries. It coordinates and supports their activities and provides them with a voice at the international level.

Meanwhile, Kaba added, "The ISA should be repealed in order to bring the Malaysian domestic legislation in conformity with international human rights law and in particular with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR)"

According to Cynthia, Malaysia as a member state of the UN has an obligation to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms as stated in the Charter of the United Nations and the UDHR

"At the UN World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna 1993, Malaysia subscribed to uphold principles enshrined in the UDHR and although the decision by the working group may not be binding, it is extremely crucial that the government takes heed of what's been said and uphold the rule of law in the country," Cynthia said when contacted today.

Furthermore, she said that Malaysia, as a member of the UN Commission on Human Rights, should respect and comply with the findings of its working group.