Indonesian preacher and former terror suspect Mohd Iqbal Abdul Rahman's plan to initiate a suit for contempt against two high-ranking officials in the Malaysian immigration department has come up against an obstacle.

He failed to affirm two copies of his affidavit before a consular with the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta after having met four times with embassy officials since Dec 20.

The officials had initially cited typing errors in the affidavit and refused to accept his affirmation of the affidavit.

After the errors were corrected, the officials told Mohd Iqbal that the embassy had not obtained a decision from the "top level" to allow him to affirm his affidavit before a consular officer.

Disappointed with this, Mohd Iqbal requested the embassy to return both copies of his affidavit but the officials claimed they had to keep one copy for the "the embassy's records".

Mohd Iqbal, 47, had been detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in 2001 but was deported to Indonesia last May, just hours before his habeas corpus hearing.

A High Court later ruled that his deportation and prior detention by the immigration department was unlawful.

He then decided to initiate a suit for contempt based on the high court's ruling against the immigration department director-general Jamal Kamdi and the enforcement department head Zainun Saleh.

Complaints lodged

Contacted today, his lawyer Edmund Bon said he was puzzled as to why a simple procedure to affirm an affidavit has became complicated.

According to him, this would have been a "common and easy" procedure in other embassies.

"My client cannot understand why the embassy has to wait for permission for this matter because it is the individual's right to affirm an affidavit," Bon told malaysiakini.

He said the embassy official did not tell Mohd Iqbal the identity of the "top level" officials.

"We suspect this (difficulty) was due to the embassy realising that the affidavit is against senior immigration officers," he said.

Bon said the legal team representing Mohd Iqbal cannot proceed with the suit without the affidavit being immediately affirmed, to be filed in the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

However, other possibilities will be considered, such as asking Mohd Iqbal to affirm the affidavit before a notary.

Bon said he lodged separate complaints today with the offices of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar , calling for a probe.

Second detention

Mohd Iqbal, who has a Malaysian wife, was arrested in June 2001 under the ISA - which allows for detention without trial - for alleged militant links to the regional terror group, the Jemaah Islamiah (JI).

He was released from detention in August 2003 but immigration officers revoked his Malaysian permanent resident's status and arrested him pending deportation to Indonesia on the claim that he was "an undesirable person and prohibited immigrant".

On May 14, 2004, before the court was due to hear his habeas corpus application, he was deported and then held for questioning by police upon arrival in Jakarta.

A week later, the Malaysian court ruled that his detention and deportation was unlawful.

Mohd Iqbal was freed last October by Indonesian authorities after having been held for three months for immigration offences.