Petty trader Nasaruddin Nasir, 45, was re-arrested this afternoon after his family members and solicitor were tricked into following a decoy to the Kamunting bus station at about 1.30pm after being told that he would be dropped off there.

While his family members waited for him there, Nasaruddin is believed to have been whisked off in an unmarked police car to the Kamunting police station.

In relating today's events, his solicitor Saiful Izham Ramli told malaysiakini in a telephone interview that camp warders had told him his client would be sent to the bus station in a Pajero as per the normal procedure.

"After waiting at the bus station for about 20 minutes or so, we felt something was wrong. Only then we realised that the Pajero was actually a decoy and that he wasn't in it.

"Both the camp officials and the police had tricked us all."

Nasaruddin was re-arrested under Section 8(1) of the Internal Security Act 1960 and ordered to serve two years in the Kamunting Detention Centre in Taiping, Perak, starting today.

Saiful Izham said the detention order signed by Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, was dated Nov 8.

"The time that Nasaruddin had spent in the camp [all these months] does not count for anything," he said.

Hopes dashed

Yesterday, the Shah Alam High Court had declared that Nasaruddin's arrest and detention under the ISA for alleged terrorist activities was unlawful after police failed to show evidence justifying his arrest with 13 others in April this year.

Justice Suriyadi Halim Omar also held that the ministerial detention order dated June 12 was unlawful as it was based on the police investigations and advice which were already tainted.

At the police station, Saiful Izham said Nasaruddin's family his mother, wife, youngest child and his younger brother got to see him for about 10 minutes before he was sent back to the camp at 3.05pm.

"When I told him at our brief five-minute meeting earlier at the camp before he was 'released' that there was a strong possibility of him being re-arrested, he was taken aback.

"He knew of the court decision as he had watched the TV3 news last night. In fact, the camp officials did not tell him anything."

Asked what the next step will be, Saiful Izham said he would have to discuss further possibilities with other lawyers and Nasaruddin's family first.

"We will be filing contempt proceedings soon against the Malaysian government, the Home Minister and the Inspector-General of Police for frustrating an order of the High Court of Malaya."

Double standards

Meanwhile, the Abolish ISA Movement (AIM) said in a statement that Nasaruddin's re-arrest is a clear contempt of court for the whole world to see..

Praising yesterday's landmark ruling, AIM secretary Yap Swee Seng said it was a wise judgement which ruled on the legitimacy of the two-year ministerial detention order.

He said it was clear and logical that the basis for extended detention under Section 8 was no longer valid.

"The court ruling reveals once again how the powerful and unchecked ISA has been abused by the government.

"The clear defect and lack of immediate judicial review in the Act has wasted six months of Nasaruddin's life in detention for something he was found not to have committed by the court."

Referring to the ongoing controversy over Puteri Umno chief Azalina Othman Said's sexual preference, Yap said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had defended her by saying that she should be seen as innocent until proven guilty.

"He should realise that what he is preaching is contradicting what his government is practising with the ISA which provides for detention without trial," Yap pointed out.

Reiterating AIM's call for the abolition of the preventive detention law, he urged the government to "uphold and implement the principle of innocent until proven guilty on all people" and to charge all ISA detainees or secure their immediate and unconditional release.