Malaysia frees 11 held for suspected militant ties

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, Oct 18 (Reuters) The son of Malaysia's Islamist opposition leader was among a group of 11 people freed today after being held without trial under the country's tough internal security laws over suspected ties to militants.

School teacher Nik Adli Nik Aziz, the son of the spiritual leader of the Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), had been held for more than five years for suspected involvement with an Islamic militant group called Kumpulan Militan Malaysia.

Asked if he had signed the order releasing Nik Adli, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also the country's internal security minister, told reporters, ''I have signed.'' He did not elaborate.

The gesture comes ahead of Eid al-Fitr, the festival next week to mark the end of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month observed by a majority of Malaysia's population of about 26 million.

Nik Adli, whose father, Nik Aziz Nik Mat, is chief minister of the eastern state of Kelantan, the lone state ruled by PAS, was arrested under the Internal Security Act in 2001, before the September 11 attacks on the United States.

''They only send him home after taking good care of him,'' state news agency Bernama quoted a bitter Nik Aziz as saying, after being reunited with his son. ''As long as my heart is bleeding, I will not say thank you.'' The government says preventive arrests under the act have helped Malaysia avert terrorist acts. But the opposition calls it nothing but a convenient tool against the government's political foes.

REUTERS AB RN1841