The wives of eight Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees have appealed to Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim to expedite the detainees' joint habeas corpus hearing pending before the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

The eight, between the ages of 33 and 50, are Abdul Razak Baharuddin, Mohd Sha Sarijan, Abdullah Minyak Silam, Mat Sah Mohd Satray, Shamsudin Sulaiman, Abdul Murad Sudin, Abdullah Mohd Noor and Nordin Ahmad.

They were detained under the security law for allegedly being members of the regional militant organisation Jemaah Islamiah (JI).

In a letter delivered to the chief justice's office this morning, their wives said the hearing which was originally scheduled for Dec 16 last year, had been postponed due to the transfer of assigned High Court judge Heliliah Mohd Yusof.

"Until now, we have not been informed of a replacement date for the hearing. We hope the government can expedite our husbands' cases so justice can be done for them," they said in the letter, a copy of which was made available to the media.

The wives said since the arrests of their husbands were carried out between Jan and Mac 2002, various allegations have been made against them, including accusations that they were members of local militant group, Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM).

However, after an initial period of police investigations under the ISA, the eight were issued with two-year detention orders for allegedly being JI members by the home minister.

Legal assistance

"We knew that they would not be given the opportunity to defend themselves from those accusations so we decided to take the initiative to seek legal assistance to challenge the government's allegations against our husbands," they added.

In their application filed last September, the detainees claimed that their arrests and detentions under the ISA were carried out in bad faith by the police and the home minister as both authorities have not produced evidence to prove their membership to any militant organisation.

The habeas corpus applications of the eight are expected to be affected by the outcome of similar applications filed at the KL High Court by two other JI detainees - Ahmad Yani Ismail and Abdul Samad Shukri Mohamad.

A decision on the duo's applications is due in February this year.