The arrest of alleged nuclear black marketeer BSA Tahir under the Internal Security Act (ISA) has been described as a "privilege" by a senior opposition leader.

"He is almost treated as a privileged ISA detainee in the sense that he does not need to undergo the two months of interrogation before being sent for a two-year detention," Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) deputy chief Dr Syed Husin Ali said today.

He told malaysiakini that as such Tahir had escaped the duration where detainees usually have to face torture and abuse in the hands of interrogators.

Sri Lankan businessman Tahir was arrested under the ISA on May 28 in Kuala Lumpur as a threat to national security and sent straight to the Kamunting detention centre in Perak.

Normally, detainees are initially held for 60 days by the police under Section 73 of the Act. If the internal security minister deems it necessary, the detainee would be further detained under Section 8 which provides for a two-year detention term.

"After interrogation and if enough evidence has been collected against the detainee, then only would he get a two-year detention order. But in the case of BSA Tahir, why was he immediately slapped with a detention order," asked Syed Husin.

"Under interrogation many 'worms' can come up. And I don't think Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi can afford too many 'worms'," he said.

Cleared by IGP

Before his arrest, Tahir was allegedly a main player in an international network supplying parts to Libya 's nuclear weapons programme.

Several names had cropped up during investigations into the matter and among them were Abdullah's son Kamaluddin, whose company Tahir had been liaising with.

The police have since cleared Kamaluddin, who had been Tahir's business partner for many years, of any wrongdoing.

Syed Husin also questioned the necessity of arresting Tahir under the ISA when he had been initially cleared by Inspector General of Police Mohamed Bakri Omar of any involvement in the issue.

He added that while the smuggling of nuclear parts is a national security issue, it is nevertheless a criminal matter and should therefore be brought before a court of law.

"This matter should have been brought to court. Is it because of the possibility that it may be open to public display that it was not?," Syed Husin asked.

Similar arguments have been raised by PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and also several human rights groups .