US terror suspect Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal's lawyer Darshan Singh Khaira is considering suing Kuala Lumpur High Court judge S Augustine Paul over "slanderous" remarks against him in an open court yesterday.

Darshan said Paul's allegation that he (Darshan) had "run away" and "had taken the Malaysian legal process for a ride" by withdrawing Ahmed's habeas corpus application and subsequently filing a similar application in the Penang High Court, was baseless and untrue.

The Penang-based lawyer said that Paul, as a learned judge, should not have made the "unwarranted and unbecoming" remarks against him especially when he was not there to defend himself.

Darshan is also upset with Attorney-General (AG) Abdul Gani Patail who represented the home ministry and the government, for alleging he had ulterior motives in withdrawing the application "to gain collateral advantage".

He said he will not hesitate to file a defamation suit against the two as soon as he can confirm that they had indeed made the detrimental remarks and comments against him.

Yesterday, Darshan withdrew Ahmed's application on the instruction of his (Ahmed's) parents because "they did not have faith and confidence in this (Paul's) court".

He informed the court through a letter sent two hours before the hearing which was scheduled to be heard before Paul at 2.30pm.

Neither Darshan nor his representative was present when Paul convened in the afternoon. The AG told Paul that another application had been filed before in the Penang High Court.

Avoid double punishment

Paul said he would not initiate a show cause proceeding against Darshan to avoid double punishment as the AG had given an undertaking to complain to the Bar Council Disciplinary Board over the lawyer's conduct.

Paul also ordered Darshan's daughter, Damina Khaira, to pay costs to the government as she was the actual deponent in the case. This is based on the fact that she had affirmed one of the three affidavits in support of Ahmed's application.

Darshan told malaysiakini that he sent official letters to Paul and the AG this morning to confirm that they had made the allegations as reported in the press today. He has given them 24 hours to reply.

"Once it is confirmed that they had indeed said the remarks, I will definitely file the suit. How could the judge make such slanderous remarks against me in court when what I did was perfectly legal.

"As I have stated in the letters to them, that I will not hesitate to issue the writs to them if they fail to respond in time,"said Darshan in a phone interview today.

He is astonished with the accusation that he would obtain collateral interest, when he agreed to take on the case pro bono (free of charge) for Ahmed.

"How can I have any pecuniary interest? I did not get a single sen out of all this," he said.

"Unprecedented" order

He also slammed Paul for his "unprecedented" order for Damina to pay costs to the government when such order has never been made by a criminal High Court against an unrelated party.

"The court cannot order a person who is neither the applicant nor the respondent to pay costs in the event the application fails. Even if the court is not satisfied with the person, he should have called Damina and asked her to show cause. This is basic law," claimed the lawyer.

Asked how Damina is involved in the case, he said his daughter, a first-year law student at International Islamic University (IIU) where Ahmed was studying had affirmed the affidavit in her capacity as a friend of Ahmed.

As to Gani's plan to file a complaint to the disciplinary board, Darshan said he welcomed the idea as he was ready to face the AG.

On Ahmed's status, Darshan said he was informed by an undisclosed reliable source that the American is now held against his will in Portland, Oregon in US.

Second application filed

The lawyer confirmed that he had filed a second application at the Penang High Court which is a separate action to the habeas corpus application which he filed yesterday. It will be heard by Penang High Court judge Mohd Noor Ahmad tomorrow.

The application seeks to declare the deportation order illegal. The Inspector General of Police, home ministry, immigration director-general and the federal government were named as respondents.

In the motion, it urged the court to order the respondents make a representation to the US authorities for Ahmed's custody and produce him in court to be dealt with according to the law.

It also sought an order that Ahmed be given a temporary identification to enable him to return to Malaysia and resume his studies in IIU.

Ahmed was deported this morning after the Malaysian authorities handed him over to US authorities following the revocation of his US passport.

He is wanted by the US government for allegedly "waging war against the United States".

Ahmed faces charges that he, with five others, conspired to fight against the US by providing material support and resources to al-Qaeda, and to contribute services to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. He also faces firearms charges.

Ahmed arrived in Malaysia in January to study for a degree in Quran and Sunnah at the IIU Gombak campus.