Edmund Bon, a 29-year-old lawyer, is busy with a case that few legal practitioners in Malaysia would want to touch.

As counsel for a group of alleged militants being held under harsh security laws, he has filed habeas corpus applications for the detainees, several of whom have already spent two years without trial in a heavily-guarded detention centre surrounded by barbed-wire fencing.

Bon, who plays soccer during his free time and jokes that the sport "is the most important thing in life", is dead serious when it comes to his clients.

"You must give people the chance to defend themselves in public," he says.

Of some 90 alleged militants detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA), 15 were held for alleged involvement in an arms-heist fiasco three years ago.

Another 18 were arrested in late 2001 for alleged involvement in a group that police first labelled the Malaysian Mujahideen Group (or KMM in Malay), and subsequently called the Malaysian Militant Group.

A further 58, detained in stages between the end of 2001 and the middle of this year, are said to be members of Jemaah Islamiya (JI) group, which seeks to create a pan-Islamic state in Southeast Asia and which many governments have classified as a terrorist network.

'Story concocted

'

For some time now, a coalition of 82 civil-society and rights groups, known as the Abolish ISA Movement, has been campaigning against this much-feared law that allows indefinite detention without trial.

They argue that those accused of crimes, including terrorism, must be allowed to defend themselves in open court under the basic legal principle of being innocent until proven guilty.

Last month, 31 detainees, including those who filed the habeas corpus applications, released a press statement with Bon's help in which they protested their innocence.

They assert that they were in no way involved in any group aiming to set up a pan-Islamic state comprising Malaysia, Indonesia and the south of the Philippines, or to overthrow any government by force.

"We categorically deny the accusation and state that it is false, trumped-up and a story concocted by the police and the authorities," their statement says.

The detainees allege that security officials had discouraged them from speaking out and harassed their families, inducing them to believe that silence would lead to early release.

"(But) we are now convinced that the authorities have no intention of releasing us....and any hope or promise was misplaced and false," they say, explaining why they now need fight for due process and freedom.

They also deny any knowledge or involvement in "any purported secret organisation known as Jemaah Islamiya", saying the authorities have not proved the existence of such a group.

The detainees said the clearest indication of this came at the time they were first arrested, when police said that they were part of KMM.

"Now, (though) you do not hear about that group but only one purportedly known as JI," they say.

"We caution that a lie, when told repeatedly and parroted by different people, the media, heads of state and security authorities of various countries, may soon be believed as the truth, when in fact it is not."

The detainees claim that they are devout Muslims who have engaged in Islamic activities under the freedom-of-religion provisions in Malaysia's constitution. For this reason, they feel they come closest to be considered imaginary "dangerous persons".

Detention extended

They detainees say no effort has been made to provide evidence in open court to support allegations against them simply because there is no evidence.

Pointing to the recent release of alleged former JI leader Mohamad Iqbal Abdul Rahman, they argue: "If an alleged leader of JI may be released, what more us who have been accused of allegedly merely being members or followers?"

For now, the detainees are serving out their two-year detention orders in a camp in the industrial town of Kamunting, near Taiping in Perak.

This is where ISA detainees are sent to after an initial 60-day interrogation period, if they are not released. Here, officers from the home ministry conduct 'rehabilitation' programmes, including courses on Islamic teachings, in an attempt to 'reform' the alleged militants.

When the detention orders of nine of the detainees expired late last month, they were promptly slapped with fresh two-year orders.

One of the detainees, Nik Adli Nik Abdul Aziz, is the son of the Kelantan chief minister and PAS spiritual adviser Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also home affairs minister, said the nine were still security threats and under investigation for terrorist links.

"They also have links to certain people who are known to be involved in the al-Qaeda terrorist network," he claimed.

'In high spirits'

Unlike in Indonesia, Malaysia has not charged any alleged KMM or JI members in court.

The detainees are particularly peeved that even alleged group leader Abu Bakar Bashir had the opportunity to defend himself in a Jakarta court despite shortcomings in the trial procedure and overwhelming international pressure for a conviction.

Though the court convicted Bashir of treason and sentenced him to four year's jail recently, it found insufficient evidence to show that he was the JI head.

Already 10 detainees, represented by Bon, have filed habeas corpus applications in the hope that they will be allowed their day in court.

Eight

of them - Abdullah Minyak Silam, Abdullah Mohamed Noor, Abdul Murad Sudin, Abdul Razak Baharudin, Mat Sah Mohd Satray, Mohammad Sha Sarijan, Nordin Ahmad, and Samsuddin Sulaiman - filed their applications on Sept 23.

The next day, the Kuala Lumpur high court sat to hear the habeas corpus applications of another two detainees, bank officer Ahmad Yani Ismail and accountant Abdul Samad Shukri.

After prosecutors said they needed more time to respond to the detainees' affidavits, the court fixed the preliminary hearing for Nov 7. The remaining detainees are said to be closely monitoring the progress of these "test cases".

Says Bon: "Their spirits are very high, in the sense that they want to clear their names and defend themselves." - IPS