As a Keadilan Supreme Council member and legal counsel of the five reformasi leaders detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA), I implore Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs Abdullah Ahmad Badawi not to waste any more time and release the five with immediate effect as the police have failed to prove that they are a threat to national security.

Abdullah should respect and uphold the Federal Court ruling

that the 60-day police detention on the reformasi leaders was unlawful.

Please revoke and release the five detainees immediately since the detention order has no basis as the highest court of the land has found that the police failed to prove that the five were a threat to national security.

It is disgraceful and shameful that Abdullah has been misled and misinformed by the police all this while. But Abdullah can rectify this mistake now by releasing the five.

In truth, the home minister's order to further detain the five was not only null and void, it is shocking and a total disappointment as the court's decision was not consequential.

Even a layperson can understand that the basis for the detention was the report on the 60-day detention by the police. When that is unlawful, the further detention becomes unlawful, too.

However, with the Friday ruling, it is blatantly clear that the detention of the five was nothing else but sheer political persecution on those who dare speak up against the wrongdoings of the present regime.