The hearing against seven suspended university students resumed at the Kuala Lumpur Magistrate's Court today preceded by a demonstration by some 100 students calling for their reinstatement.

The seven were charged with illegal assembly for allegedly participating in an anti-Internal Security Act (ISA) demonstration outside the National Mosque on June 8, 2001. They have since been banned from attending classes by the campus authorities.

The students dubbed the 'ISA 7' are Rafzan Ramli, Helma Sanudin, Khairul Amal Mahmood, Ahmad Kamal Abdul Hamid, Wan Sanusi Wan Mohd Noor, Nik Noorhafizi Nik Ismail and Zulkifli Idris.

The seven - who are from four public universities - have pleaded not guilty to the charge, which provides for a maximum punishment of two years' imprisonment, RM10,000 fine or both, if found guilty.

The prosecution's first witness was Chief Inspector Badrul Hisham Baharuddin from the Jalan Tun HS Lee police station.

Badrul told the court that he had led a team to arrest the seven in an operation - codenamed 'Ops Padam' - aimed at curbing all reformasi-related activities.

He said the arrests were made when a group of about 200 students refused to disperse after being given two warnings, and added that they did not have a police permit to hold the gathering.

Political arguments

The students' counsel Amer Hamzah later asked the police officer to define what constituted an illegal assembly, and questioned if a family of three having a picnic at a public park would be guilty of the offence.

(Under section 27 of the Police Act, an assembly comprising more than three people at a public place without police permission is classified as an illegal assembly )

At this juncture, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Bache objected.

He said the witness was not a legal expert and that the hearing should focus on the illegality of the concerned assembly. Ahmad also argued that Badrul should not be "manipulated" by the defence lawyer into entering political arguments.

Magistrate Lim Kui Lee accepted the objection and ruled the question irrelevant.

Another defence counsel, Wan Razali Wan Kadir, asked the witness if there was any prejudice involved when implementing the law. He cited the unlicenced hawkers outside the mosque and asked why the witness did not take action against them.

Initially, Badrul conceded that he had acted in a prejudicial manner, but retracted when the lawyer repeated the question.

The hearing will resume tomorrow. Today's hearing comes after the matter was postponed on eight previous occasions.

Apart from Wan Razali and Amer , the students were also represented by Latheefa Koya, Edmund Bon and Zulkifli Omar.

ISA-like punishment

Earlier, some 100 students from various local universities marched from Jalan Masjid India to the court building. They gathered for about 30 minutes with placards that read, 'Abolish UUCA' (Universities and University Colleges Act) and 'Respect students rights'.

Also present to lend support were the six reformasi leaders who were recently released from their two-year Internal Security Act detention.

PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali, PAS central committee member Dr Hatta Ramli, Keadilan vice-president Dr Xavier Jayakumar and other oppositions leader were also at the hearing.

In a related development, Keadilan Youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor said he was requesting an urgent meeting with Education Minister Musa Mohamed over the matter.

"The students should be reinstated immediately. Their two-year suspension from studies is similar to our two years under the ISA without any trial," he told reporters outside the court.

The Keadilan leader said he will send an appeal letter to the ministry today.

Previously, the seven students also requested for a meeting with the minister and Musa said last Thursday that they could be reinstated if they apologised .