A police officer denied at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur today that the charges preferred on former Internal Security Act detainee Yazid Sufaat and Muhammad Hilmi Hassim for allegedly being members of Tanzim al-Qaeda Malaysia was an afterthought.

Lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad ( photo ) had earlier asked police counter-terrorism expert Assistant Superintendent Mohd Raby Abu Bakar whether he knew that Yazid and Hilmi were first acquitted when the prosecution charged them without stating them being a member of any organisation, to which the witness agreed.

Amer : Do you know what happened at High Court Two?

Raby : They were acquitted.

Amer : Do you agree that the present charges of being members of Tanzim al-Qaeda Malaysia only arised after they were acquitted?

Raby : Yes

Amer : This charge being a member of al-Qaeda is a tactic or an afterthought charge.

Raby : I do not agree.

Yazid and Hilmi were acquitted by the KL High Court in May last year but the Court of Appeal had set-aside the order in June.

Raby agreed that he had not attended the alleged usrah (religious discussion) sessions held by Yazid ( photo ) at his house between July 2012 and Feb 2013.

However, he maintained that during the usrah sessions the word Tanzim al-Qaeda Malaysia was used by Yazid.

This was despite the assertion by Amer that the police cautioned statements recorded from witnesses from the alleged usrah sessions between July 7, 2012 and Jan 5, 2013 had no words of Tanzim al-Qaeda Malaysia being mentioned by any of them.

The witness, however, maintained that the words 'Tanzim Al Qaeda Malaysia' was mentioned on Facebook which the police had retrieved from Yazid's Facebook account.

When the lawyer suggested that the words 'Tanzim Al Qaeda Malaysia' could have been tagged onto Yazid's Facebook by another user, Raby said he wouldn't know as he was not an information technology expert.

No weapons retrieved

Yazid and Hilmi are charged with being members of the outlawed Tanzim Al Qaeda Malaysia militant movement and had attempted to recruit new members to fight for their cause.

The witness had testified yesterday that Yazid was the leader of the group which is a branch of the notorious Al Qaeda movement and their ideology was to form an Islamic state through violence.

Raby also testified yesterday that the Tanzim Al Qaeda considered Parliament a form of idolatory and as such against Islam.

Raby agreed with Amer Hamzah that police did not retrieve any weapons from Yazid's house and what they seized was a copy of the Quran.

Amer also told Raby that Tandzim Al Qaeda Malaysia was not gazetted by the government as a terrorist group between July 2012 and Feb 2013 to which the witness replied he had no idea.

During re-examination of Raby by DPP Ishak Mohd Yusof, the witness did agree that Yazid was held under the ISA for being involved in the Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah extremist movement.

The hearing before Justice Mohd Azman Hussin continues Monday when the court will hear an application from a reporter from The Star to set aside the subpoena served on her for the trial followed by testimonies by another witness.