The Kuala Lumpur High Court today ruled as unlawful the immigration department's deportation and prior detention of the alleged Jemaah Islamiah (JI) senior member Mohd Iqbal Abdul Rahman.

His lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad said Justice Abdul Kadir Musa ruled that removal order issued by the immigration department against Mohd Iqbal on August 25, 2003 was 'bad and defective'.

Earlier, senior federal counsel Fazilah Begum did not respond to submissions made by Mohd Iqbal's lawyers, but conceded the order for the removal was illegal.

"The judge said since the government conceded the removal order of Mohd Iqbal was defective, thus it follows that any prior detention based on the said order was unlawful," the lawyer told malaysiakini .

The court also ruled that the 46-year-old Indonesian preacher's application for a habeas corpus

was now rendered academic since he has been deported to Jakarta last Friday.

( Habeas corpus is a writ ordering the police to produce prisoner before a court or judge to ascertain if there are procedural defects which could render their detention unlawful)

Mohd Iqbal, who has a Malaysian wife, was arrested in June 2001 under the Malaysia's Internal Security Act (ISA) - which allows for detention without trial - for the alleged militant links.

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

Proved right

Last Friday, just hours before the court was due to hear his habeas corpus application, Mohd Iqbal was deported by the department and was held for questioning by police upon arrival in Jakarta.

Amer said following the High Court's decision today, he was considering initiating a civil action against the government for the unlawful detention of Iqbal.

Apart from Amer, the terror suspect is also represented by Edmund Bon. The family of Mohd Iqbal was not present in court this morning.

In an immediate respone, the Abolish ISA Movement (AIM) said the court's judgement proved right the movement's claim that Mohd Iqbal had been unlawfully detained and deported.

"The deportation of Mohd Iqbal was clearly done to subvert the legal challenge to the unlawful detention of Mohd Iqbal since Aug 21, 2003 as the government was fully aware of the defective removal order," AIM secretary Yap Swee Seng said in a statement.

The Al-Qaeda-linked JI network is blamed for a series of attacks in the region including the Bali bombings in October 2002 which killed 202 people.