27/12: ISA 5 apply to be present in court

The five men detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for their links with the unregistered Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) sought to be present in court during the hearing of their habeas corpus writ applications.

The application was made through their lawyers in the High Court here today.

The five, M.Manoharan, V.Ganabatirau, K.Vasanta Kumar, P.Uthaya Kumar and R.Kengadharan had filed a suit against the Internal Security Minister and the commandant of the Kamunting detention camp in Taiping challenging that the detention is illegal.

Judicial Commissioner Zainal Azman Abd Aziz set Jan 24, 25 and 28 to hear the case again and allow time for the Attorney-General to look into the application for the five men to be produced in court during the hearing.

Lawyers Karpal Singh who together with Gobind Singh Deo and seven others represented the five men, said the case was fixed for mention today to fix a date for the hearing.
He then made an oral application for the five men to be produced in court during the hearing.
Karpal argued despite it not being a constitutional right for a person detained under the ISA to appear before the court, the discretion whether to allow or disallow the application still lays in the court’s hands.

Karpal urged the court to consider the application and determine if there was necessity for the five detained to be present in court.

He added the Internal Security Minister had issued the detention order under Section 8 of the ISA, thereby denying the detained men from putting up their defence in connection with the arrest.
He said the detention was also carried out without an indepth investigation, as per under Section 73 of the Act.

Karpal said it would cause inconvenience if the men are not produced in court during the hearing as the defence would have to travel to Kamunting to obtain further instructions from their clients.
“The court should give consideration because this is a very substantial case and of significant public interest,” added Karpal.

Moreover, the respondents (Internal Security Minister and Kamunting Camp commandant) have indicated they will be filing about 45 affidavits, said Karpal.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Kamaludin Mohd Said, who was assisted by Abdul Wahab Mohamad, said they received the applications late last Friday and Monday evening.
“Therefore, we seek for time to file about 40 to 45 affidavits and require between two to three weeks to tender the completed affidavits in court,” said Kamaludin.

He then sought for a postponement to the third week of January to file the affidavits.
Kamaludin also said they would have to consult Abdul Gani for further instructions on the application for the five men to be produced in court.

“Its not an easy process as the Attorney-General (A-G) has to obtain the consent of the Internal Security Minister, which also involves the question of national security risk, before the detainees can be allowed to be produced in court,” said Kamaludin.

Zainal Azman said since the applications to produce the five men in court was made in the last hour, the A-G has to be given time to consider the applications.

Gobind meanwhile said the five men have been denied their rights, for their detention to be reviewed in 60 days, as the whole process has been circumvented by the imposition of the two-year detention order under Section 8 of the ISA.

The five were detained on Dec 13 for allegedly taking part in a Nov 25 Hindraf illegal assembly and also for alleged seditious remarks made against the government.

On Dec 19, the Ipoh High court summarily struck out the application for writ of habeas corpus filed for the release of Hindraf lawyer M. Manoharan who is detained under theISA.

Justice Muhamad Ideres Muhamad Rapee struck out the application on grounds that the copy of the detention order had not been certified.