Thursday, 18-Oct-2001 6:57 PM

Malaysiakini - Thursday October 18

Detention of ISA 5 "illegal", Federal Court told
Leong Kar Yen

5:07pm, Thu: A defence counsel for five Keadilan and reformasi leaders detained under the Internal Security Act told the Federal Court today that their detention was illegal as the police had failed to submit detailed grounds for their arrests.

"The police has the onus of providing to the court, the reasonableness underlying the arrest and that all the procedural requirements have been fulfilled," lead defence counsel Sulaiman Abdullah told a five-man Federal Court.

"The police have no right to abbreviate the evidence on the basis of national interest. If they do so, it would amount to insufficient evidence being brought to the attention of the court and as such...the detention would be unlawful," Sulaiman added.

Sulaiman was submitting in an ppeal by the five against a High Court decision on April 25 to dismiss the habeas corpus application by the five.

The five are Keadilan leaders Chua Tian Chang (Tian Chua), Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, Saari Sungib, FreeAnwar.com webmaster Raja Petra Kamarudin and malaysiakinicolumnist-cum-film maker Hishamuddin Rais.

Justice Augustine Paul had dismissed the application on the grounds that the arrests were lawful and could not be reviewed by the High Court.

Paul had also said in his judgment that the police or the Home Affairs minister cannot be required to furnish facts relating to the reasons for the detention if such a disclosure was against national interest.

The police had then submitted an affidavit claiming the police also had other reasons which could not be revealed for the sake of national security for the detention.

The five were arrested in early April for their alleged involvement in a militant attempt to overthrow the government. All save Raja Petra, who was released unconditionally, have been sent to the Kamunting detention centre early June to serve a two-year detention order.

Power to inquire

Sulaiman also stressed that the detaining authorities should not be the sole judges in terms of ISA detentions and that the courts had the power to inquire into the details of such arrests.

“Parliament cannot be interpreted as intending that the arresting officer should be the sole judge on whether there are reasonable grounds for such action.

"Throughout the centuries various democratic countries have jealously guarded and protected the rights of the individual to his liberty and as such illegal deprivation of liberty is a threat to the very foundation of a society based on law and order," Sulaiman said.

He also added that the courts had the power to inquire into the arrests by the police under Section 73 of the ISA as there were no provisions that prohibited judicial inquiry.

Sulaiman was assisted by Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, Christopher Leong, R Sivarasa and M Moganambal while the Inspector-General of Police, who is the respondent, was represented by senior deputy public prosecutor Azahar Mohamed and deputy public prosecutors Mohd Yusof Zainal Abideen, Mary Lim Thian Suan and Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah.

Sitting on the five-member Federal Court panel are Chief Justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah, Chief Judge of the High Courts of Malaya, Wan Adnan Wan Ismail, Chief Judge of the High Courts of Sabah and Sarawak Steve Shim Lip Kiong, Federal Court judges Abdul Malek Ahmad and Siti Norma Yaakob.

The appeal hearing continues on Oct 29.