Two apostates have filed a writ of habeas corpus claiming unlawful arrest and detention following a raid by the Terengganu religious affairs department (JHEAT) on July 20 at Kampung Batu 13 in Hulu Besut.

The application, a case that will test the rights of apostates in Malaysia, was filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court (criminal) late yesterday afternoon.

The Terengganu government and Pengkalan Chepa prison director were named as respondents.

The appellants Kamariah Ali, 54, and Daud Mamat ( pix ), 74, had renounced Islam through a statutory declaration in 1998.

Met yesterday, their counsel Haris Mohamed Ibrahim, said both stood their ground and claimed they no longer came within the syariah jurisdiction.

"On those, they are claiming to have been wrongfully arrested and detained by the religious authorities," he said.

"They also claimed the authorities had acted irrationally and in bad faith, and had violated their human rights."

The appellants and 56 others were arrested and detained following a raid on their village, dubbed the Sky Kingdom.

Today, 48 of the followers are before the Besut syariah court to face charges of violating the fatwa and insulting Islam. Bail is also being arranged for all the villagers, who are followers of Ayah Pin.

Ayah Pin, or Ariffin Mohammad, 65, has been declared a deviant and public threat and is currently on JHEAT's most-wanted list. He has gone into hiding since last week's crackdown.

Fighting for their rights

More than 10 years ago, Kamariah ( right ) and Daud, together with her husband Mohamed Ya (now deceased) and Mad Yaacob Ismail, 52, were jailed for religious practices inconsistent with Islam.

Eight years later, they are charged with attempting to leave Islam and jailed three years for contempt of a previous syariah court order requiring them to attend religious rehabilitation classes.

While in prison, the four apostates exhausted all avenues for appeal right up to the Federal Court in their quest for a declaration over the right of a Muslim adult to renounce Islam under Article 11 of the Federal Constitution.

In the landmark case, the five-member Bench was asked to declare void any restrictive law or one that fettered the right of an adult Muslim to renounce Islam.

The four appellants also wanted a ruling on the consistency between Kelantan laws and provisions in the Federal Constitution.

Last year July, the Federal Court dismissed their appeal after ruling that they were being tried for syariah offences prior to renouncing Islam but remain apostates.