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EO arrests have spiked 400 percent, report finds
Malaysia Kini - July 26, 2011
According to the report, a total of 3,701 people were detained under the EO between 2000 and 2009 while 819 people remained in detention as of February 2010.
In contrast, 25 people were arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in 2010, and the same number remained in ISA detention by year-end. Like the ISA, the EO provides for indefinite detention without trial.
Suaram director Kua Kia Soong said the government's strategy of using the lesser-known EO is a new tactic by which it can detain persons without having to charge them.
"We've seen the number of detainees decline under the ISA, but we've seen the numbers in EO and Dangerous Drugs Act detainees increasing, they are running into hundreds and over a thousand which is very serious," he said.
New ISA arrests rise two-fold
Meanwhile, the number of detainees under ISA may have fallen from 43 in 2008 to 25 in 2010 but the number of new arrests made under the law has increased more than two-fold from 10 to 25 during the same period.
The report further stated that the ISA, too, has regressed as it is now being used against alleged human traffickers instead of charging them in open court.
he report also criticised the government's planned amendment to the ISA, stating that it does not address the fundamental issue of detention without trial.
Emphasising the severity of the situation, the report cited a June 2010 visit by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to Malaysia.
The working group expressed "serious concern" with four preventive laws that allow state institutions to elude normal penal procedure and provides powers to detain without the responsibility to prove criminal responsibility.
EO now used against dissidents
Asked to rate the human rights situation in the country, Kua gave it a four out of ten.
"The issues are different (this year) but as far as detention without trial is concerned, it has gone down. The government is now using EO, this is a new thing, a new regressive move," he said.
Despite the increased use of EO, the law has largely escaped public eye as it is usually used against criminals.
However on July 4 this year, the law for the first time in recent years was used against political dissidents, in which Sungai Siput MP Jeyakumar Devaraj and five other Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) members were arrested for allegedly having a hand in the Bersih 2.0 rally.
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