THREE women have called off their hunger strike outside Bukit Aman police headquarters after attempts to get their husbands freed before Deepavali failed, vacating the area at 4pm today.

The men have been detained under the Security Offences and Special Measure Act (Sosma) 2012 for suspected links to the long defunct Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam of Sri Lanka, while the wives of three of the men had been sleeping on the pavement outside Bukit Aman since Monday, hoping to pressure the police into releasing their husbands.

J. Vimala Devi, wife of local councillor V. Suresh Kumar, told The Malaysian Insight that the reason they called off the protest was because their attempt to get their husbands freed before Deepavali was unsuccessful.

“We are disappointed that our husbands are not released.

“We tried everything, even going on a hunger strike, but they are still inside,” she said.

The other two women are V. Umahdevi, wife of Gadek assemblyman G. Saminathan, and Sumadi whose husband is Green Technology Corporation CEO S. Chandru. Both are from Malacca.

Yesterday, Inspector-General of Police Abdul Hamid Bador said the 12 suspects will be allowed to see their families on Deepavali.

He said only the immediate family could visit the detainees at the detention centre.

Vimala said that they have been given two hours tomorrow to visit their husbands at Kuala Lumpur Police Headquarters.

“We are still in KL and will visit them before heading back to Malacca.”

She also said that they will wait for the court’s decision next week before deciding on their next course of action.

On Thursday, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur fixed next October 31 to hear an application for habeas corpus from five of the men, filed by their lawyer Ramkarpal Singh on Tuesday.

Saminathan, Gunasekaran, Chandru Suparmaniam, Suresh Kumar Velayuthan and Arivainthan Subramaniam are challenging their Sosma detention.

Saminathan and Gunasekaran are DAP assemblymen.

The five men are among 12 people arrested on October 10 and 12 over alleged links to the Tamil Tigers.

The five in their motion affirm they are not part of the Tamil Tigers and deny trying to revive the militant group.

Habeas corpus is legal recourse for those under detention to plead their case before a judge unless the authorities can prove lawful grounds for their arrest.

The 12 men are held under Sosma, which allows for detention of up to 28 days without charge. – October 26, 2019.