The Kuala Lumpur High Court judgment yesterday quashing the habeas corpus applications of five reformasi activists detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) recently was today termed as being "even more draconian" than the Act.

DAP Youth leader Teng Chang Khim said today judge Augustine Paul was also wrong in criticising, in his judgment, the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) for issuing a statement denouncing the use of the ISA to detain the first batch of seven activists over the past two weeks.

Paul had said that it was inappropriate for Suhakam to make such a call as it amounted to an "unlawful interference with the lawful exercise of discretion by the detaining authority".

Teng said that Suhakam's call was exercising one of the fundamental liberties entrenched in the Federal Constitution, the freedom of speech.

"If the proposition of Paul is acceptable, then the judgment itself is even more draconian than the ISA," said Teng in a statement.

He said that Suhakam was only discharging its statutory duty by calling for the release of the ISA detainees and charging them in an open court.

'Unsolicited advice'

In a separate statement, DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang asked if Paul was suggesting that Suhakam chairperson Musa Hitam and his commissioners had committed a criminal offence by denouncing the use of ISA against the detainees.

"Is Paul offering unsolicited advice to the Attorney-General that she should consider arresting and prosecuting the commissioners?" asked Lim.

"By Paul's logic and reasoning, it would be improper for any member of parliament to question the propriety of any ISA arrest in Parliament. This would subvert the very principle of parliamentary democracy in the country," said Lim.

Penang Keadilan Youth leader Johari Kassim said the court's decision was a "grave disappointment" to the people's hope of the courts being the last resort to check abuse of power by the police and government.

He called upon the national Keadilan leadership to ensure that an appeal is filed to the Court of Appeal to ensure that all legal avenues are exhausted.

He also said that it was important to support Suhakam in the lawful exercise of its duties.

National security

Paul yesterday quashed applications made by the five detainees on the grounds that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the matter as the arrests and the detention were done in accordance with powers vested in the police through the ISA. He added that their detentions were valid in the interest of national security.

The five were among 10 reformasi activists nabbed by police in the past two weeks, the latest arrest being today morning. Police have said the five were arrested on the grounds that they were a threat to national security.

The five, along with two more, were alleged by police to be planning to use militant means and mass demonstrations to topple the government.