Malaysia said yesterday it had released suspected terrorist Yazid Sufaat, who has been detained since 2001 after being connected with the Sept. 11 attacks in the US.
Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Yazid, a member of regional militant group Jemaah Islamiyah who was freed from a detention camp in northern Malaysia on Nov. 24, was now safe to be released into society.
“He was considered as a threat to public security in Malaysia because he was part of Jemaah Islamiyah, trying to establish an Islamic government within the region,” he told reporters.
“I think after holding him for so long, he can be brought back into society but at the same time we will follow closely everyone that may have ideology [of] militancy or extremism,” he said.
Syed Hamid did not say whether Yazid, whose extradition had been sought by the US after his detention, was under any restriction order that would oblige him to report to police.
A home ministry official said that Yazid was released on Nov. 24.
The minister said five other Malaysian and foreign nationals were freed this month after being held without trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA) — a law which human rights groups are pushing to have abolished.
The US’ 9/11 Commission Report has said that Yazid, a US-trained biochemist, was tasked by al-Qaeda to develop a biological weapons program and spent several months trying to cultivate anthrax at a lab in Afghanistan.
It also said that in 2000 he hosted at his apartment in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur four figures involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, suicide plane attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Syed Hamid said that since he had been appointed home minister in March, the number of ISA detainees had been reduced to 46 from 70.
“From time to time the cases will be reviewed and, as they are reviewed, we will look at the file and if it’s time to release them we will do that. We will not hold them any longer than necessary,” he said.
As well as suspected terrorists, the ISA has been used recently to detain government critics including the nation’s top blogger, Raja Petra Kamarudin, who was freed last month under a landmark court ruling.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
RSS