Following the Federal Court's ruling that the arrest and 60-day detention of the reformasi six under the Internal Security Act was done in bad faith, the ISA review board has recommended that five of them be released.

According to Latheefa Koya, o­ne of the lawyers who represented the five, the court ruling is the main reason why the board chose to recommend that Keadilan party leaders Tian Chua, Saari Sungib, Lokman Noor Adam and Dr Badrulamin Bahron and malaysiakini columnist-cum-filmmaker Hishamuddin Rais be freed.

The board will submit the recommendations to the Home Ministry for consideration, she said when contacted yesterday.

By law, the review board, consisting of senior civil servants, sits every six months to hear appeals by detainees against their detention orders. The board will then submit its decision and recommendations to the home minister who may exercise his discretion to act upon the board's findings.

On Sept 6, the Federal Court found that the five reformats leaders Tian Chua, Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, Saari Sungib, Hishamuddin Rais and Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin had been detained unlawfully for the first 60 days under the ISA.

Raja Petra was released before the expiry of the 60-day period while Mohd Ezam is serving a two-year jail sentence for breaching the Official Secrets Act.

Despite its ruling, the court did not free the other detainees from a further two-year detention ordered by Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Although, Badrulamin and Lokman were not named in the appeal, their lawyer R Sivarasa had said the ruling applied to the two as well since they were arrested for the same reason and subjected to similar circumstances.

The six were detained in April 2000 for allegedly planning to topple the government through militant means, a charge which they have denied.

Slim chance

Meanwhile, Latheefa said that Tian Chua, Saari and Badrulamin were told of the board's decision o­n Dec 3 while Lokman was informed a week before that.

Hishamuddin was o­nly informed about the "good news" yesterday morning by the board led by Zaki Yassin, who heard his representation today.

"I accompanied Hishamuddin for his representation. He told the panel that he had nothing more to say as the highest court in the land had already ruled that his detention was mala fide.

"After the board deliberated, they told him that considering the ruling, they will recommend that his detention be terminated, " she said.

Although she was happy with the latest development, Latheefa said there was o­nly a slim chance that the Home Ministry would heed the review board's recommendation.

"If they ignore the court ruling, what more a mere recommendation from the review board. However we hope for the best for the detainees," she said.

In a related development, Saari's wife Aliza Jaafar said the detainees' families hoped the home minister would respect both the court ruling and the board's recommendation.

"The recommendation further compounds the ruling which states that the arrests were illegal. Please release them as soon as possible."

"We have been very patient waiting for the freedom of our loves o­nes. If they ignore this as well, there is nothing more we can do," she said when contacted.