Internal Security Act (ISA) procedures were not adhered to by the police when detaining five reformasi activists last week, a defence lawyer told the Kuala Lumpur High Court today.

Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin submitted that this technical error was obvious from the affidavits filed by the arresting officers to contest the habeas corpus application by the five.

"In their affidavits, police had not said their proper grounds for arresting and detaining the five. What they have done is merely reproduce the grounds as stated in the Act," said Kamarul.

The five filed the application last Thursday following their arrests under the ISA last Tuesday and Wednesday. The ISA allows for detention without trial for a minimum of two years following an initial 60-day investigative period.

The application was filed by Keadilan vice-president Tian Chua, Youth leaders Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor and Saari Sungib, Free Anwar Campaign (Freeanwar.com) webmaster Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin and social activist-cum- malaysiakini columnist Hishamuddin Rais.

Similar applications on behalf of two others who were also arrested, Keadilan Youth leaders N Gobalakrishnan and Abdul Ghani Haroon, were made at the Shah Alam High Court today. Their applications will be heard on April 24.

All seven were arrested under the ISA for allegedly planning violent street demonstrations and other militant means to topple the government.

'Minister's satisfaction'

In his submission, Kamarul said that under the ISA, arresting officers must state two compulsory grounds for the arrest and detention.

"They have complied by stating that one of the grounds for the arrests was because the five were a threat to national security.

"However, the other ground which they have reproduced from the Act must be read together with another provision of the Act which states that the Home Affairs minister must be satisfied with the reasons of the arrest and those reasons must be given," said Kamarul.

This, he said, was not done in the affidavits filed by the police officers and as such there was a technical glitch in the arrests and subsequent detention of the five.

Kamarul also said that it is not only the arresting officers who must comply with the grounds for ISA arrests but also the detaining officers.

He added that this was a novel argument and requested Justice Augustine Paul to consider its merits.

Another defence counsel R Sivarasa said that the detention of the five was an infringement on their fundamental liberties which were assured by the Federal Constitution.

"The detainees must be informed of the grounds of their arrest and must be given access to their lawyers. The burden is on the respondent to tell why no such access is given," said Sivarasa.

Police files

He said that the failure to provide legal representation was a constitutional breach and would make the detention illegal.

However, he conceded that in a habeas corpus application, this ground alone will not make the detention unlawful. He added that this ground will only stand if it was grouped with other grounds submitted by the defence to invalidate the detention.

Sivarasa also commented on the police's refusal to file an affidavit giving reasons for the detention of the five.

He said that Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Norian Mai had released a press statement giving reasons for the arrests and there had been a commentary article which appeared in The Star daily on April 13 which detailed various activities against the national security allegedly undertaken by one of the detainees.

"The matters and details that appeared in the article invite inference that they were from police investigation files," said Sivarasa.

"If the police can go about outside the courtroom giving reasons for the arrests and defaming the detainees but refuse to put the reasons in an affidavit to the court, it just shows that they are acting in bad faith," he said.

The prosecution, headed by senior deputy public prosecutor Abdul Gani Patail, will submit tomorrow.