The appeal by the police and government against the quantum of general damages ordered to be given to five former Internal Security Act detainees for unlawful detention during the Reformasi era in 2001 was dismissed by Federal Court today.

The nation’s apex court also maintained the compensation of RM10,000 per day granted to the five for the duration of their unlawful detention, which ranged from 41 to 54 days each.

This was the period the five - Batu MP Chua Tian Chang or Tian Chua, Hulu Klang assemblyperson Saari Sungib, activist Hishamuddin Rais, former PKR supreme council member Badrul Amin Baharom and Badaruddin Ismail, who is better known as Pak Din - were held in police custody before being moved to the Kamunting detention centre.

Their award does not cover the two-year period all of them were held at the Kamunting camp for ISA detainees, after they were labelled as terrorists by then inspector-general of police Norian Mai.

“We dismiss the appeal,” said Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Richard Malanjum, who chaired the five-member Federal Court bench.

“The decision by the Court of Appeal is maintained,” Justice Richard said, adding that the bench would not answer the question of law posed to the apex court.

The question was whether the principle in the assessment of damages should be on fixed per-day basis or a declining per-day basis.

The court also awarded costs of RM30,000 to the five after dismissing the appeal.

The other judges on the bench were Federal Court judges Ahmad Ma'arop, Abu Samah Nordin, Ramly Ali and Zaharah Ibrahim.

The police and government, represented by Kamal Azira Hassan, had appealed on the exemplary damages, citing that the RM10,000 a day damages award should be on a declining scale, citing the Thompson case.

Lawyer Ranjit Singh, who appeared for the five with Razlan Hadri Zulkifli and Ho Kok Yew, disagreed, arguing that in the Thompson case, the calculation was based on a per hour basis and that it did not apply to the facts of this case.

With today's decision, the total sum the government will have to pay to the five detainees is expected to be RM5.16 million, which includes interest.

Besides the exemplary damages of RM10,000 per day, the five were each awarded RM30,000 in aggravated damages, and a total of RM100,000 in exemplary damages for libel to four of them.

The quantum of RM30,000 each and RM100,000 for libel were not appealed by the police and government.

The five of them were detained after they were accused of being terrorists armed with explosives, guns and molotov cocktails, and that they had also threatened to convert people to Islam, to which they also denied.

Four years ago, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur allowed the suit by the five for unlawful detention and libel.

Justice Lau Bee Lan said they were unlawfully detained and their detention was done in bad faith and awarded the five more than RM4 million in damages.

This decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal, but it reduced the quantum of exemplary damages from RM15,000 a day to RM10,000 a day. Despite this, the expected award then was RM4.5 million, including interest.

Lawyer Ho said the amount his clients would be getting as of today would be a total of RM5.16 million and it included interest.