Human rights activist arrested

26,April:A human rights activist, Badaruddin Ismail, 56, was arrested by the police at 9am today while having his breakfast in Hulu Kelang, Selangor.

Family members of Badaruddin, popularly known as Pak Din, believe that he was detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

Pak Din, an activist for the human rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) is married with three children and commonly seen at reformasi gatherings taking photographs and notes. He is also a key contributor to the pro-reformasi Komentar website.

His daughter, Emilia Badaruddin, told malaysiakini that a police officer contacted her to confirm the arrest. However she added that the officer, who is an inspector, did not tell her the reasons or under which provision of the law he was arrested. She was told that the police would be in touch with her family with more information later.

An AFP news report quoted Pak Din’s brother Abdul Aziz Ismail as saying that he believed Pak Din was arrested under the ISA but could not confirm it. “I believe it was because of his involvement in Suaram.

My brother is not a criminal,” Abdul Aziz said. He added that five plainclothes policemen surrounded Pak Din while he was having his breakfast, asked his name, and took him away without saying why they were arresting him.

Nine arrests Pak Din’s arrest today is the latest by police in a swoop on reformasi activists. Nine other reformasi activists have been arrested and detained under the ISA, which allows indefinite detention without trial.

They were alleged to have plotted to overthrow the government using violence. In the first round of arrests on April 10 and 11, Keadilan vice-president Tian Chua, party Youth leaders Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, N Gobalakrishnan, Abdul Ghani Haroon and Saari Sungib, Free Anwar Campaign (Freeanwar.com) webmaster Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin and social activist cum malaysiakini columnist Hishamuddin Rais were nabbed.

Last Friday, Keadilan Youth leader, Dr Badrul Amin Baharom, was detained at his house in Kepong, Selangor at about 12:30am. This was followed by the arrest of another Keadilan Youth leader Lokman Noor Adam on Tuesday.

In a press statement after the arrest of the first seven, Inspector General of Police Norian Mai said they were detained for being members of a ‘secret cell’ within the reformasi movement that had planned to topple the government through militant means and mass street demonstrations.

Yesterday, habeas corpus applications by five of them seeking their release were quashed by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on the grounds that the detention was lawful for the purpose of national security.

source:malaysiakini.com