The highest court in the country refused to rule whether Bersih 2.0 chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah's detention under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) was illegal or otherwise.

This follows it today dismissing her habeas corpus appeal against her 11-day detention under the controversial legislation.

A five-member Federal Court bench led by newly-appointed Chief Judge of Malaya Justice Ahmad Ma'arop said they were unanimous in dismissing the appeal.

"We find there are no merits in the appeal. We will be writing our written grounds of judgment later," he assured.

The other members of the bench were Federal Court judges Justices Zainun Ali, Azahar Mohamed, Zaharah Ibrahim and Balia Yusof Wahi.

Maria's counsel Professor Gurdial Singh Nijar wanted the highest court in the country to rule on the legality of the Bersih 2.0 chairperson's detention under Sosma and award her damages over the 11-day detention.

The Bersih 2.0 chairperson was arrested on Nov 18 at the Bersih office and was released on Nov 28, where she was held and investigated under Section 124C of the Penal Code for activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy.

This happened just before the Bersih 5 rally which was held on Nov 19.

However, it was reported that Maria was released a day before her habeas corpus hearing at the Kuala Lumpur High Court, when the investigating officer did not submit an affidavit in reply to the application.

It was reported on Nov 29, that Kuala Lumpur High Court judicial commissioner Nordin Hassan had declared Maria's habeas corpus application as void following her release a day earlier.

Legality of Sosma detention questioned

Gurdial, who appeared with Ambiga Sreenevasan, said they wanted the apex court to rule on the legality of the detention so as to prevent abuse in the use of Sosma.

He said that he respected the decision and is awaiting the full grounds of the written judgment.

Despite this, Gurdial questioned the use of Sosma in such manner where a person is arrested and then a day before the habeas corpus hearing, the person is released like Maria.

“Does this mean that the authorities can resort to this, and not be held accountable for their actions following the detention. We were hoping for a ruling or decision on this,” he said.

“We see the Parliament yesterday extended Sosma for another five years where a person can be detained for up to 28 days without trial,” he added.

He also expressed concern over the deliberate use of Sosma, which had seen the doubling of Sosma-related cases from 547 to 997 cases last year and whether the classification of the case was correct. He added the court should also look into this.

Sosma is meant for terrorists, says Maria

Meanwhile, Maria said she was disappointed with today's decision.

Being a leader of a non-governmental organisation, and civil society group, she asked how could the authorities perceive her as a threat to democracy.

“Sosma is enacted for terrorists but now it is used against people like me who is an NGO leader and a civil society activist,” she said.

“Sosma should not be used against social activists,” she added.

Maria was investigated following allegations that Bersih had received funding from the Open Society Foundations, which is linked to financier George Soros.