Alleged members of an al-Qaeda-linked extremist group jailed in Malaysia were routinely stripped naked, slapped, kicked and subjected to sexual abuse by police interrogators, according to a human rights document obtained by reporters.
Security officials have said the questioning produced information about plots by Jemaah Islamiyah to bomb US and other Western interests in Singapore and other extremist operations in Southeast Asia. Information also was gained about Malaysia's role as a meeting point for senior al-Qaeda operatives involved in the Sept. 11 attacks, the officials said.
The abuse allegations are contained in a report seen by reporters. It was compiled by independent activists from prisoner complaints and handed to the government's Human Rights Commission. The group said it did not investigate the claims and only forwarded the document to police officials, who have repeatedly denied condoning mistreatment of prisoners.
The activist group Human Rights Watch says it will release a report May 25 on abuses of Malaysian terrorism suspects.
Malaysia is holding about 100 people at the Kamunting prison camp under a security law that allows indefinite detention without trial. About 70 of those are alleged Islamic militants.
Thirty-one of the detainees signed a complaint that was lodged with the government's Malaysian Human Rights Commission in January.
The prisoners list 57 types of abuse they claim to have been subjected to after their arrests. Some detainees produced sketches of mistreatment they allegedly suffered.
The complaints range from verbal attacks and denial of religious freedoms to long periods of solitary confinement and physical abuse and humiliation.
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