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Suspected militants resort to hunger strike

About 40 detainees who were imprisoned in 2001 for their suspected membership of a militant Islamic group have gone on a hunger strike to force the Malaysian government to release them.

The protest began on Monday at the Kamunting camp, about 230km north of the capital, after sending a seven-page letter to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on February 8 demanding their freedom.

Two of the inmates were admitted to a nearby hospital on Tuesday but they were in a stable condition, lawyers who visited the men said yesterday.

They have urged the government to release the inmates before something 'terrible' happens.

The hunger-strikers are among 120 detainees believed to be members of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) militant group which is held responsible for the Bali bombing in 2002 and the attack on the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta last year.

The government has rejected their appeals for freedom and last month renewed their detention for a second two-year period under the Internal Security Act. Under the Act, detainees can be held indefinitely.

The government said their detention was necessary to complete an inquiry into the extent of the JI network, an argument rejected by human rights groups.

One of the strikers is Nik Adli, the son of Nik Aziz who is the spiritual leader of the hardline Muslim Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), the government's arch political rival.

Nik Aziz said PAS and Allah supported the hunger strike. 'It is the right thing to do when fighting injustice,' he told a political rally in PAS-ruled Kelantan state. Civil rights groups and opposition parties urged the government to release the detainees or charge them in a court, before the detainees' health deteriorates.

The hunger strike comes at a sensitive time, with Mr Abdullah to announce today that parliament would be dissolved in preparation for an election within three weeks.

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