Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee and reformasi activist Saari Sungib walked out of the Kamunting Detention Camp in Perak a free man last night.

Saari, who is a Keadilan supreme council member, said he was informed about his release by the camp's record officer at about 7.05pm yesterday, and was told immediately to pack his things and leave the jail which he has known for two years.

No condition was imposed by the authorities for his release.

He said his release, issued by the Home Ministry, was confirmed by camp director Abdul Basir Mohamad.

However, Saari, a long-serving president of Islamic non-government organisation Jemaah Islah Malaysia, said he did not receive any official letter from the ministry or the camp authorities.

After signing about six documents at the camp office, Saari was taken by his jailers and left standing at the Kamunting bus station, where he contacted a friend to pick him up.

Justice for all

"I am not fully satisfied until all my friends at Kamunting have been released, all other detainees given justice and until efforts to abolish the ISA have been realised," said Saari when speaking to the press at his house in Ulu Kelang, Kuala Lumpur today.

Sporting a ponytail that served as symbol of his protest while in detention, he said that all four reformasi detainees, whose detention lapsed yesterday, had "prepared for the worst" and expected a further two-year extension.

This was especially since the government had stubbornly refused to budge on the detention order, by defying the Federal Court ruling that the initial 60-day detention were done in bad faith, the ISA review board's recommendations for release and the international condemnation of human rights organisations.

"Then, at 7:05 pm, we were told that we would be released unconditionally. Wah, so simple!"

Described as the most prolific writer ever detained under the ISA, Saari has written a total of 9 books during his two years in Kamunting, one of which is yet to be published. The first six books described his initial experience under the 60-day detention, the seventh book on the judgement passed by the Federal Court, and the eighth was on the ISA.

According to Saari, the final unpublished composition will provide proof of the lies committed by the Inspector-General of the Police and Home Ministry officials.

Saari said that he will continue to struggle for reformasi and justice, especially since his arrest showed the executive's willingness to abuse its power in using the police to slander its own citizens, detain them and take them away from their own families.

"I will not be happy to eat good food until all my friends from Al-Maunah and Jemaah Islamiyah have been released," he said in response to questions from reporters.

On a separate note, Saari clarified that during his first arrest under the ISA in 1998, he was the president of Jemaah Islah Malaysia (JIM), a legal registered entity under the Societies Act, and not Jemaah Islamiyah as wrongfully attributed by local papers yesterday.

'Real fighter'

When met immediately after his release yesterday, at the Keadilan office in Taiping at 11.50pm , a frail but cheerful-looking Saari, flanked by his wife and children, said his moment of freedom "was something worth waiting for".

Then pointing to his wife Aliza Jaafar, a staunch campaigner against the ISA, Saari said she was the "real fighter".

"She is brave, too brave sometimes," he quipped.

He added: "I am hoping for all ISA detainees to be freed and (for) the Act (to be) repealed."

He turned to his Penang-based lawyers Gooi Hock Seng and Cheah Kah Peng and expressed his gratitude.

"Thank you, you have always been there for me...to the very last moment."

About 50 supporters had gathered outside the office to welcome the ex-detainee, who had lost about 20kg after being incarcerated since June 2001.

Among those present were Dr Mohd Hatta Ramli, political secretary to Terengganu Mentri Besar Abdul Hadi Awang and Keadilan supreme council member Dr Lee Boon Chye.

Time with family

A happy Aliza said she and her husband had no immediate plans, but that she "had waited for this moment anxiously".

She would like Saari to spend some time with the family before getting back to his party and activist work.

"Allow Saari to repay whatever he owes his children while he was away. He has been so cruelly treated by the powers-that-be," she said.

Aliza said she would not give up o­n her fight against the ISA, which has robbed her husband of two years of his liberty.

"We will continue to struggle and campaign for the Act to be abolished and for all ISA detainees to be freed," she said.

Application for bail

Saari was among six political activists - Keadilan leaders Tian Chua, Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, Lokman Noor Adam, Dr Badrulamin Baharon and malaysiakini columnist Hishamuddin Rais - detained in Kamunting for planning to topple the government via militant means.

They have denied the charge. The ISA provides for detention without trial for up to two years, and the order can subsequently be renewed.

Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, under local and international pressure, did not exercise his option of renewing the order for the four activists whose detention order expired yesterday.

Tian and Hishamuddin ( photo ) are o­nly expected to be released after they have obtained bail for all other pending court cases in which they are involved. They are currently being remanded in Taiping prison.

Mohd Ezam is currently serving a two-year jail term in Kajang under the Officials Secrets Act.

Tian ( photo ) and Ezam face charges at the Kulim magistrate's court for allegedly rioting and detaining people illegally during the Lunas by-election in 2000.

They were accused of stopping of buses of ruling Barisan Nasional supporters whom, they claimed, were 'phantom voters'.

All three also face a charge of illegal assembly - involving a protest in 2000 against the persecution of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim - at the Kuala Lumpur magistrate's court.

Lokman and Dr Badrol Amin - who were arrested later - are due to be released o­n June 12 unless their detention order is renewed.