A Kuala Lumpur High Court judge today disqualified himself from hearing a habeas corpus application by five ISA (Internal Security Act) detainees for their release on the grounds that the prosecutor in charge of the case was his brother.

Justice Abdul Wahab Patail then adjourned the matter to be heard before another High Court judge tomorrow morning.

The case will now be heard before either justices Augustine Paul or Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin.

Abdul Wahab's brother, Abdul Gani Patail, is the head of prosecution at the Attorney-General's Chambers.

Meanwhile, in parliament, deputy speaker Muhamad Abdullah rejected a motion by opposition members of parliament to discuss the ISA detentions on the grounds that the matter was now before the courts.

Six Keadilan leaders and a social activist were arrested last week for allegedly planning violent street demonstrations and other militant means to topple the government.

The seven are Keadilan vice-president Tian Chua, party Youth leaders Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, N Gobalakrishnan, Abdul Ghani Harun and Saari Sungib, Free Anwar Campaign (Freeanwar.com) webmaster Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin and social activist-cum and malaysiakini columnist Hishamuddin Rais.

Human rights issues

The families of five of the detainees filed a habeas corpus application on Thursday seeking their immediate release. The five were arrested in Kuala Lumpur last Tuesday and Wednesday.

The application stated that the detention was "unlawful, done in bad faith and was politically motivated". It also denied allegations made by Inspector General of Police that the five were part of a cell within the reformasi movement that planned a violent uprising against the government with the use of explosives and grenade launchers.

Counsel for the five, R Sivarasa, said today a similar application for the remaining two, Keadilan Youth leaders, Gobalakrishnan, who was arrested in Langkawi, Kedah, and Abdul Ghani, arrested in Kuching, Sarawak, will be made in the Penang High Court soon.

At the hearing today, Abdul Wahab volunteered to recuse himself from hearing the matter due to "possible perception of prejudice" on his part from his relation with Abdul Gani.

"If Gani is directly supervising this matter, I would like to disqualify myself. I will fix a new date for this matter to be heard before another judge," he said.

Sivarasah responded by saying that his clients would not mind Abdul Gani merely supervising the matter, but would object if Abdul Gani came to the court to prosecute.

In any event, he said, the prosecution could have evaded this problem by having someone else supervise the prosecution.

"Our court documents were served on them last Friday and they knew then who was the judge hearing this case. They could have had someone else apart from Abdul Gani to be in charge," he said.

The prosecution team, headed by senior deputy public prosecutor Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden, did not object to Abdul Wahab hearing the matter.

Abdul Wahab , however, insisted that he wanted to disqualify himself as the case involved public interest, fundamental rules of criminal procedure and human rights issues.

"It is essential that no other issue creeps into the decision-making process. With the prosecution confirming Abdul Gani will be involved in the prosecution of this case, I don't want to add pressure on myself or on him," said Abdul Wahab.

Maltreated

Sivarasah also told the judge that he will be making an application tomorrow for the detainees to be brought to the court.

He later told reporters that it is a well-known fact in the history of the ISA that detainees have been maltreated while under detention.

"We are worried about their physical well-being and with their presence, we can see them and take instructions from them," he said.

He added that there were no prohibitions in the law preventing the ISA detainees from appearing in court.

Also present in court today were the families of those detained as well as Keadilan leader Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang.