A Native Hawaiian group fighting to keep 83 ancient funerary objects buried and hidden on the Big Island asked a federal judge yesterday to reconsider an earlier order to return them, saying it has compelling information that needs to be reviewed.

Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai'i Nei, which lost an appeal to the original order on Monday, stressed two points in its motion: that the sealed cave where the items are buried is too dangerous to open and that a Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation review committee recently stated that the objects should remain buried.

A native Hawaiian group decried yesterday that "deeply felt cultural issues" involving 83 artifacts reburied on the Big Island are being decided "in a Western court" that has no understanding of Hawaiian traditions.

Pualani Kanahele, a founding member of the group, Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawaii Nei, said the escalating dispute over the artifacts has pitted "Hawaiians against Hawaiians and, sadly, even family against family."

At an emotionally charged press conference held yesterday at the Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaii, Hui Malama, a group founded in 1988 to repatriate and rebury Hawaiian bones and artifacts from museums and construction sites, presented its side in an ongoing legal dispute in federal court.

Charles Maxwell, another member of Hui Malama, said, "Federal law does not give Hawaiians justice. It is difficult for Hawaiians to get justice in their own land."