DAP to file habeas corpus to free ISA detainees
DAP will file a writ of habeas corpus seeking the release of lawyers M. Manoharan and V. Ganabatirau, who are party members acting as lawyers for Hundraf.
The two lawyers have been detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) will be filed soon.
“We will file the papers because the detention involves our members,” DAP national chairman Karpal Singh told reporters at the Parliament lobby.
According to DAP MP (Ipoh Barat) and lawyer M Kula Segaran, one of the main grounds of the habeas corpus application is that Section 73 of the ISA which provides for the initial 60-day investigation period was bypassed.
“The law was not followed and we have sufficient case law to support the minister’s order (made under such circumstances) that can be declared null and void,” he explained
To detain an ISA detainee for two years directly under Section 8 is rarely done - except in 2004 when Sri Lankan businessman BSA Tahir was held over his alleged nuclear links and sent straight to the Kamunting camp.
UPDATES, 5:30PM: Karpal Singh has been appointed as the lead counsel for the legal team of the five detainees after a meeting with them at Kamunting this morning. DAP will also push for similar applications to be filed for the other detainees once the legal team is given more details and the representation to act by their families.
Meanwhile, according to AFP, the United States demanded that Malaysia provide fair treatment to five people held under ISA that allows for indefinite detention without trial.
“Our expectation as a government is that these individuals would be provided the full protections under Malaysian law, that they would be given due process, that they would be accorded all the rights accorded to any other citizen, and that this be done in a speedy and transparent manner,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
Karpal Singh said the use of ISA under such circumstances could not be justified.
“They should be given an opportunity to face trial in open court if there is evidence,” he added.
Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang concurred, “If they have committed an offence, bring them to court to stand trial. If it is sedition, charge them in court.”
The writ of habeas corpus has historically been an important instrument for the safeguarding of individual freedom against arbitrary state action. It is a summons with the force of a court order addressed to the custodian, such as a prison official, demanding that an unlawfully detained person be brought before the court for release.
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