Five reformasi activists detained under the Internal Security Act 1960 (ISA) have demanded that they be set free following the Federal Court decision yesterday that their arrests and initial 60-day detention order were illegal and unlawful.

Welcoming the court's recognition that the police had acted in bad faith when arresting and detaining them in April last year, they claimed that the current detention as ordered by Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi could not stand any longer as the court had already declared that their initial detentions as null and void.

In a press statement dated yesterday, the reformasi activists who are detained at the Kamunting detention camp in Perak, claimed that the technical argument separating the minister's two-year detention order from the earlier police detention is illogical.

This is because the second detention order by the minister was based on the findings of the police investigation during the earlier 60-day detention, they added.

They also challenged Abdullah to abide by the precedent set by the court and release them immediately and unconditionally.

"The court being unable to do this shows that the ISA is above the law and the government is unwilling to apply the spirit of the law," they said.

The press statement was signed by Keadilan leaders Tian Chua, Saari Sungib, Dr Badrulamin Bahrom, Lokman Noor Adam and malaysiakini columnist-cum-film maker Hishamuddin Rais.

Similar circumstances

Yesterday the Federal Court allowed the appeals by Keadilan Youth leader Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, Tian Chua, Saari, Hishamuddin and FreeAnwar.com webmaster Raja Petra Kamaruddin for a writ of habeas corpus to declare that their arrest and detention was unlawful.

Raja Petra has since been released while Ezam is serving a two-year jail sentence in Kajang Prison for committing an offence under the Official Secrets Act.

Although, Badrulamin and Lokman were not named as appellants in yesterday's appeal, lawyer R Sivarasa, when contacted today, informed that yesterday's decision applies to the two as well as they were arrested for the same reason and subjected to similar circumstances.

Meanwhile, DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang said yesterday's decision will be a standing indictment on Malaysia's system of justice, the rule of law , undemocratic governance and human rights if the authorities fail to free Ezam, Tian Chua, Saari and Hishamuddin soon.

He said that the judgment could have been a landmark decision for human rights and the restoration of confidence in the system of justice but because of its lack of judicial courage to free the detainees.

He claimed when making the decision yesterday, the Federal Court judges had departed from the principle held by former Lord President Salleh Abas in the case of "Theresa Lim Chin Chin vs Inspector General of Police (1988)" which he said that there is only one preventive detention under the ISA.

In that case, Salleh had clearly stated that the detention starts with the Police Act under Section 73 of the ISA and followed by the ministerial order under Section 8 of the same act and they cannot be treated differently, said Lim.

Equally tainted

Therefore, if the police detention is quashed then the ministerial order is equally tainted and cannot stand, he added in a press statement today.

He also said that the court's advice that the detainees file a fresh habeas corpus application to challenge the minister's order, is not helpful at all as the 989 amendment to the ISA stated the minister's decision is not subjected to any form of judicial review.

In a related issue, Keadilan supreme council member Cheah Kah Peng also made a similar demand, urging Abdullah to "respect and uphold" the court's ruling yesterday.

He said it was blatantly clear that the detention was a sheer political persecution for those who dared to speak up against the wrongdoings of the government.

The reformasi activists were arrested separately beginning April 2001 for allegedly involved in millitant activities to topple the government and that their detention was necessary to preserve national security.

They subsequently filed a writ of habeas corpus seeking to be released from the detention claiming that they were arrested because of their political alliance with the Alternative Front.