Malaysia announced Wednesday it had arrested 10 people for “acts of terrorism” and said they were members of an international terror outfit tracked down in cooperation with foreign intelligence groups.
The government-linked New Straits Times said the 10 were believed to be associated with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian student accused of trying to detonate explosives on a Northwest Airlines plane approaching Detroit.
“It was learnt that foreign anti-terrorism agencies informed Malaysian authorities that the 10 were linked to Abdulmutallab and that they were in Malaysia,” said the daily, which did not cite any sources for its report.
Malaysian Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Wednesday that the suspects were being held under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows for indefinite detention without trial.
Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh, chairman of the Abolish ISA Movement, said that 50 people were detained on January 21 as they attended a religious lecture on the fringes of the capital Kuala Lumpur.
He said the majority were released the following day but that 12 remained in detention including a Jordanian, two Nigerians, one Malaysian, four Syrians and one Yemeni.
Syed Ibrahim said the detentions may have been a response to international pressure on Malaysia to crack down on terrorism, particularly after US warnings that militants were planning attacks on foreigners at Borneo island resorts.
“In any case, the ISA is a convenient tool to use to avert pressure by making foreigners in this case mostly from the Middle East region into scapegoats,” he said.
Muhamad Yunus Zainal Abidin, 29, said at the press conference that he was among those detained during the lecture by Syrian preacher Aiman Al Dakkak, who was also taken into custody
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