Two Keadilan leaders were arrested yesterday evening for distributing, or planning to distribute, a letter that former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim had addressed to the chief justice.

Youth vice president S Manickasavagam and Youth exco member Abdul Ghani Harun were nabbed in front of Pertama Complex, a busy shopping centre in Kuala Lumpur at about 5.30pm.

Both men were released at 12:30 today, but no charges have been pressed against them.

Anwar's open letter to Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz, reported by malaysiakini three weeks ago, raised the issue of postponements and delays to his bail hearing by the court of appeal.

Keadilan Youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, when contacted yesterday, expressed disgust at the police tactics, and what this suggests of government behaviour under new Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

"This sends out a very bad message to the whole world on the first day of Abdullah's administration," said Mohd Ezam, who was released this year from a two-year detention without trial under the Internal Security Act.

Keadilan announced the plans for nationwide distribution of the letter after the chief judge failed to respond to the letter, and snubbed a subsequent request by Keadilan leaders to discuss the continued setbacks on all of Anwar's cases.

Decision from top

Ezam also criticised what he claims as interference from top police officers to detain the men, even before the investigating officer had the opportunity to look into the case.

According to him, the police had unfairly moved in against the group earlier.

"The arrests were made before I got there. They had not even started passing out the letter."

Following their arrests, Abdul Ghani and Manickasavagam lodged separate police reports against the police on grounds that their arrests were illegal.

They were the two most senior Keadilan leaders among some 20 party supporters who had gathered in front of the mall with the intention of distributing Anwar's letter to passers-by.

Ezam said he had been informed by investigating officers that if charges were to be laid against the duo, it would be made under Section 10 of the Printing Presses and Publications Act, 1984.