Washington Post, 29 Jan 10: Malaysia’s arrest of 10 terror suspects was part of a sweep targeting the hard-line Islamic sect often associated with al-Qaida, but any link to the Nigerian suspected in the attempted bombing of a U.S. airliner remains unclear, a senior official said Friday. Malaysia’s home minister announced the arrests Wednesday under the Internal Security Act, which allows indefinite detention without trial, saying they were mainly foreigners linked to an international terrorist network and posed a security threat. He declined to give further details.
Activists said they included four men from Syria, two from Nigeria and one each from Yemen and Jordan. Jordanian and Syrian officials said they had been informed of the arrests and would cooperate in the investigation. The senior Malaysian official, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the suspects were believed to be followers of the orthodox Wahhabi sect, which seeks to purify Islamic beliefs and supports the establishment of Muslim states based on Islamic laws. Osama bin Laden and other members of al-Qaida are believed to have been influenced by Wahhabi doctrines. . . .
AFP, 27 Jan 10: Terrorism suspects from Jordan, Nigeria, Syria and Yemen have been detained in Malaysia, activists said Thursday as a report linked them to the Nigerian behind the botched Christmas plane bombing. 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. . .
Daily Mail, 4 Jan 10: Fifty-two unmarried Muslim couples face charges of sexual misconduct and possible jail terms after being caught alone in hotel rooms by Malaysia’s Islamic morality police. Scores of officers fanned out across budget hotels in central Selangor state before dawn on January 1, knocking on doors and detaining unmarried Muslim couples who were sharing rooms, according to a spokesman for the Selangor Islamic Department. The detained, mostly students and young factory workers, are expected to be charged with ‘khalwat,’ or ‘close proximity’.
Under Malaysia’s Islamic Shariah law is described as couples not married to each other being alone together in a private place. ‘We chose to have this large-scale operation on New Year’s Day because many people are known to commit this offense while celebrating such a major holiday,’ said the spokesman Hidayat Abdul Rani. In Selangor, ‘khalwat’ carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a fine. . . . .
