The Kuala Lumpur High Court today ruled that the home minister had not acted in bad faith when he ordered for the detention of two Jemaah Islamiah (JI) suspects under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

Justice Heliliah Mohd Yusof said this in dismissing the habeas corpus applications of Ahmad Yani Ismail and Abdul Samad Shukri Mohamad for their arrest and detention under Sections 73 and 8 of the ISA respectively to be declared illegal.

(Habeas corpus is a writ ordering prisoners to be brought before a court or judge to ascertain if there are any procedural defects which could render their detention unlawful.)

The duo were arrested on Dec 29, 2001 in a operation against alleged regional militants following the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

In her oral judgement, Heliliah said that the applicants' counsels had not established that the minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also prime minister, had acted in bad faith when he issued detention orders on the duo based on investigation reports submitted by the police.

"On examination of his affidavit, I find that the (minister acted) within the scope and purposes of the ISA. It is beyond the powers of this court to question the adequacy and sufficiency of his reasons for doing so," she said in rejecting the Section 8 application.

Separate detentions

The judge also upheld the validity of the police arrest and detention of the two detainees under Section 73 of the ISA by noting that a legal precedent cited by the applicants' counsel in support of their case did not apply in this instance.

In the earlier case, involving the habeas corpus applications of Keadilan Youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor and four other reformasi activists, the Federal Court had declared the Section 73 detention of the group unlawful as the police failed to show that the arrests were done to protect national security.

The court, however, controversially stopped short of ordering the release of the group on the grounds that they were at the time of the proceedings no longer held under Section 73 but under Section 8 of the ISA which required a separate application.

"At the time when the Ezam decision was delivered on Sept 6, 2002, the applicants had already been arrested. The arresting police was acting in the belief that the law did not require him to disclose any information. The law cannot be made to operate retroactively," said Heliliah.

In addition, she ruled in favour of the Federal Court's interpretation of the law that Section 73 and Section 8 decisions made by the authorities have to be considered separately and not as interlinked provisions.

"There are two distinct preventive detentions. There are no grounds to enable me to entertain the application in a different way. Therefore, I dismiss the application and rule that the writ of habeas corpus shall not be issued," she said.

When met later, lawyers representing the duo said appeals will be filed with the Federal Court at the earliest opportunity.

Expiring orders

This is the second High Court decision this week that rejected attempts by JI suspects to challenge their detention under the ISA.

On Tuesday, another High Court judge Abdul Kadir Musa dismissed similar applications by eight other JI suspects.

Failing today's application, Ahmad Yani and Abdul Samad face the possibility of release tomorrow with the expiry of their detention orders. However, their detention orders can be extended for another two years.

Aside from the duo, the detention orders of four other JI suspects are also due to expire tomorrow. The four are Abdul Razak Baharudin, Mohd Sha Sarijan, Ahmad Sajuli Abd Rahman and Suhaimi Mokhtar.