The affidavit of the arresting officer of two Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees did not specify the necessary grounds for arrest as required for under law and is therefore illegal, the Shah Alam High court was told today.

"If the arresting officer makes the arrests, he himself must believe that there are plausible grounds for arrest and he also must believe the minister (home affairs minister) is satisfied with the reasons given for the arrest," said lead defence counsel R Sivarasa.

However, Sivarasa said, the arresting officer, Joseph Chang, in his affidavit stated that he "believed that there are reasons that justifies the arrest of the detainees under Section 8 of the ISA".

"I also sincerely believe that the detainees have acted in a manner prejudicial to national security," Chang said in his affidavit.

According to Section 8 of the ISA if the home affairs minister "is satisfied that the detention of any person is necessary with a view to preventing him from acting in a manner prejudicial to the security of Malaysia or any part thereof or to the maintenance of essential services therein or to the economic life thereof he may make an order directing that the person be detained for any period not exceeding two years".

Arbitrary detentions

Sivarasa submitted that the affidavit by Chang was 'unspecific' and it was the constitutional right of the person arrested or detained to be informed clearly of the grounds of his arrest.

"It is the duty of the police to inform the arrested person of the grounds of his arrest under the Federal Constitution and the ISA does not in any way remove this right.

"He must have the specifics of what he was arrested under," Sivarasa told presiding judge Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus when submitting at the habeas corpus applications hearing of Keadlian youth leaders of Abdul Ghani Haroon and N Gobalakrishnan who are being detained under the ISA.

He added that Section 8 of the ISA involved the home affairs minister to act as a safeguard against arbitrary detentions.

Later, Sivarasa also tried to submit on the judgment made by Justice Augustine Paul on earlier habeas corpus applications by five other ISA detainees but Hishamudin said this was not necessary as the judgment were only findings of fact with no legal principles involved.

No jurisdiction

The habeas corpus applications of Keadilan vice president Tian Chua, party youth leader Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor, reformasi activist Saari Sungib, social activist-cum- malaysiakini columnist Hishamuddin Rais, and Free Anwar Campaign (Freeanwar.com) webmaster Raja Petra Kamaruddin were thrown out by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on April 25 with Paul ruling that the High Court had no jurisdiction to hear the matter.

Families of Abdul Ghani and Gobalakrishnan filed the habeas corpus applications two weeks ago seeking their immediate release after they were detained on April 11 and 10, respectively, under the ISA, which allows detention without trial.

Habeas corpus is a writ ordering prisoners to be brought before a court or a judge to ascertain whether their detention is lawful.

On Wednesday, the Federal Court struck down a decision by Hishamudin ordering the police to produce Abdul Ghani and Gobalakrishnan in court for their habeas corpus applications hearing.

The hearing for the habeas corpus applications of Abdul Ghani and Gobalakrishnan will continue on Monday.

Meanwhile, the habeas corpus applications for three other ISA detainees, Keadilan's Dr Badrul Amin Baharom and Lokman Adam and human rights activist Badaruddin Ismail, had been filed in the Shah Alam High Court on May 4 but defence lawyers have yet to receive a response.