Former Hindraf ISA detainne M Manoharan today filed a RM100 million defamation suit against the Inspector General of Police and the Attorney-General for alleging that he had links to terrorism.

The suit was filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court this morning and he named three publications as defendants as well.

manoharan first visit to selangor state assembly building 110509 04 Accompanying him when filing the application was Hindraf leader P Uthayakumar.

Manoharan (right) named in person Musa Hassan (IGP), Abdul Gani Patail (AG), the government, Star Publications (M) Bhd, the New Straits Times Press ( M) Bhd and Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd as defendants.

He is seeking RM100 million for libel, aggravated and exemplary damages along with an injunction against the IGP and AG to prevent his agents from publishing a repeat of the libellous statement with interests and costs.

Manoharan, the Kota Alam Shah assemblyperson, was detained under the Internal Security Act on Dec 13, 2007, for playing an active role in Hindraf.

Following the arrest, both IGP Musa Hassan and AG Abdul Gani Patail said that the detained Hindraf leaders - five in all - had ties with the Tamil Tigers movement in Sri Lanka.

Manoharan, who resides in Bandar Kinrara was released from the ISA detention in March.

He said such libellous statements uttered by the two, coupled with his ISA detention, had resulted in a loss of credibility to his legal practise.

"Everything was lost as a result of the statement and the detention. How can the two claim Uthayakumar and I to support such terrorist activities.

"I do not know them...can they prove my links. At first they detained me under guise of the alleged involvement with terrorism."

"Before our release, the IGP and AG claimed that we were detained for our role in the November 2007 Hindraf demonstrations," Manoharan said.

"There is no shred of evidence to prove my involvement and yet they detained me."

Statement of claim

Manoharan, who is also Hindraf legal advisor and DAP member, said sometime on Nov 25, 2007, Hindraf organised a demonstration to highlight the point that the Indian community had been sidelined in development.

Following the protests, Manoharan said the leaders of the country, including the then Prime Minister and his deputy had embarked on a campaign against Hindraf and him.

Musa, he said, had made a false and slanderous statement which appeared in the Star on Dec 12, 2007, over possible linkages to terrorism.

He claimed that such statements had international repercussion in the print and electronic media as he and Hindraf had always promoted peaceful resistance.

"As a result of this, I was detained under the ISA for 514 days and was only released on May 9, 2009," he said.

Further articles which appeared in the New Straits Times and Utusan Malaysia were politically motivated and allegations of his terrorist links were merely created.

Such defamatory statements, Manoharan said, had meant that he was a terrorist, a person willing to use violence to achieve his objective and was willing to kill and hurt Malaysians.

It alternatively meant that he was a violent terrorist who should be punished, that the defendants had ample proof he was a terrorist, out to create racial quarrel and fights, was morally questionable, and did not follow the laws.

Manoharan, who had no previous convictions or criminal record also claimed that he had never visited Sri Lanka.

He claimed the IGP and AG were liable for uttering such statements which appeared in the three publications

Such allegations, Manoharan claimed had injured and tarnished his reputation as a lawyer, resulted in public hatred and his legal practice was affected.