Internal Security Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the police had complied with all procedures leading up to the detention of the five Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard today.

This was submitted by Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail on day two of the habeas corpus application by the Hindraf five.

The packed courtroom saw Abdul Gani resuming his submissions from yesterday by arguing that there was no procedural non-compliance committed by Abdullah or his officers.

Yesterday, lead counsel Karpal Singh argued that there was procedural non-compliance with the provision of Section 8 and 73 of the Internal Security Act (ISA) because Abdullah had invoked the wrong section first.

According to him, the detainees were deprived of an enquiry under Section 73 which provides for a period not exceeding 60 days for investigations including the right of the applicant to put up his defence.

The five - P Uthayakumar, M Manoharan, R Kenghadharan, V Ganabathirau and T Vasanthakumar - were detained under Section 8(1) ISA directly on Dec 13 last year under Abdullah’s orders.

“Section 8(1) does not provide for arrest. It only confers powers on the minister to make an order of detention. This is a fatal flaw which nullifies the initial arrests and continued detention,” he said.

Burden of proof

However, the AG said the arrests made were to give effect to the detention and not for the purpose of enquiry of Section 73.

“There is no issue whether the grounds of arrest are vague or insufficient because the arrest was not made under Section 73,” he said.

The senior lawyer also said the applicants have the burden of proof to show evidence of bad faith on the minister’s part.

“Even so, bad faith is not a procedural non-compliance. The court is only restricted to look into procedural matters and not into the minister’s decision.

“Those who are responsible for the national security must be the sole judges of what national security requires,” Abdul Gani said.

Karpal told the court he needed time to reply and Judicial commissioner Zainal Azman Abdul Aziz fixed Monday for hearing to resume.

The Hindraf leaders were detained shortly after they had organised a protest that saw 30,000 people hit the streets of Kuala Lumpur on Nov 25 last year.

This was followed by the movement’s leaders and supporters being charged for a slew of offences including sedition, causing mischief and attending an illegal assembly.

On Dec 13, the five leaders were arrested under the ISA - a move anticipated by many after the government linked the movement to overseas terrorist groups.

Yesterday, the movements charismatic leader Uthayakumar was warded at the Taiping general hospital, purportedly for dehydration due to his ongoing hunger strike at the Kamunting detention centre.

Watch the 2-minute video here.