The Federal Court today postponed the habeas corpus appeal hearing involving 10 Internal Security Act (ISA) suspected of involvement with terrorist activities.

The three-man bench comprising Justice Steve Shim Lip Kiong, Abdul Malek Ahmad and Hashim Yusoff did not fix a date for the hearing of the petition of appeal.

The appellants - Ahmad Yani Ismail, Abdul Samad Shukri, Abdul Razak Baharudin, Mohd Sha Sarijan, Abdullah Minyak Silam, Nordin Ahmad, Mat Sah Mohd Satray, Abdul Murad Sudin, Abdullah Mohamed Noor and Shamsuddin bin Sulaiman - are alleged to be involved in regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). They were detained in 2001 and 2002.

(Habeas corpus is a writ ordering prisoners to be brought before a court or judge to ascertain if there are any procedural defects which could render their detention unlawful.)

Defence counsel Edmund Bon, assisted by Amer Hamzah and Edward Saw, applied for the hearing to be postponed in the case jointly involving Ahmad Yani and Abdul Samad.

He explained that the defence team had only received the 140-page judgment of Kuala Lumpur High Court last Thursday and that more time would be needed to study the document.

(When the appellants filed the petition, the high court's judgment had not been made available, but the Federal Court had fixed the date of hearing nonetheless.)

The lawyers, who are also representing the other eight detainees, sought to have their joint case heard today.

However, senior federal counsel Hanafiah Zakaria asked the court to hear both sets of cases together as the grounds of their detention are similar.

On Feb 20, KL High Court judge Heliliah Mohd Yusof had dismissed the case involving Ahmad Sani and Abdul Samad.

Three days earlier, KL High Court judge Abdul Kadir Musa had dismissed a case brought by the other eight detainees.