The appeal hearing before the Federal Court scheduled for Monday for five Keadilan and reformasi activists who are detained under the Internal Security Act, has been postponed to Feb 25.

Their lawyer R Sivarasa said today no reason for the postponement has been given though he believes that it could have been to facilitate former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahims Federal Court appeal against his corruption charges.

The appeal before Chief Justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah, Chief Judge of the High Courts of Sabah and Sarawak Steve Shim Lip Kiong, and Federal Court judges Abdul Malek Ahmad and Siti Norma Yaakob will be heard for one week starting Monday.

Keadilan leaders Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, Tian Chua, Saari Sungib and Lokmar Nor Adam and malaysiakini columnist-cum-filmmaker Hishamuddin Rais are appealing against the Kuala Lumpur High Court decision which quashed their habeas corpus applications on Aug 25.

Habeas corpus is a writ ordering prisoners to be brought before a court or judge to ascertain whether their detention is lawful.

Militant attempt

The five were arrested in a dragnet beginning April 10 last year for alleged involvement in a militant attempt to overthrow the government.

After the spending less than 60 days under police detention, the five were sent to the Kamunting Detention Centre in Perak under a two-year detention order in June.

The defence is led by Sulaiman Abdullah and he is assisted by Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, Sivarasa, Christopher Leong and M Moganambal.

The prosecution is led by senior deputy public prosecutor Azahar Mohamad who is assisted by deputy public prosecutors Mohd Yusof Zainal Abideen, Mary Lim Thian Suan and Abdul Majid Tun Hamzah.