Human rights watchdog Suaram today claimed that the police were ignoring the government's call to respect court orders on the release of Emergency Ordinance (EO) detainees.

On Nov 1, 2005, then de facto law minister Radzi Sheikh Ahmad had urged the police to respect such court orders following the high profile re-arrest of alleged underworld kingpin Koo Tee Yam last year.

"The courts have higher powers than the police. If Koo continues to do wrong, only then can the police find evidence to arrest him," the minister was quoted as saying by Utusan Malaysia .

Koo was eventually freed a day after his re-arrest.

In a statement, Suaram co-ordinator Yap Swee Seng said the government's position had gone unheeded by the police, with the latest example being the re-arrest of eight EO detainees soon after they were released from the Simpang Renggam detention centre on Wednesday.

The eight were among 13 detainees freed on a writ of habeas corpus by the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

The detainees had made a desperate dash for freedom after they were brought out of the detention centre in a bus. Five managed to escape. [ Click here for video ]

However, the police maintained that they were not slated for re-arrest.

Worrying trend

Meanwhile, Yap claimed that police statistics showed that 48 out of 56 EO detainees during the first five months of 2005, were re-arrested after their being granted a court order for their release

"This is a worrying trend, as it suggest that even the courts are unable to check the powers of the police, rendering judicial remedy (for detainees) and the application of habeas corpus provided in the constitution, meaningless," he said.

Similar to the Internal Security Act, the EO allows detention for up to two years without trial. The order can be renewed at the discretion of the internal security minister.

Formerly used to quell communist insurgents, the government has maintained that the EO is crucial in providing preventive detention of underworld figures and dangerous criminals.

Most EO detainees are placed in Johor's Simpang Renggam detention centre while a minority are slapped with a restricted residence order and banished to remote areas of the country.

Simpang Renggam is believed to house 700 inmates, of which some 100 are reported to be minors .

The Royal Police Commission report in 2004 had recommended that the EO be abolished, a call which had been echoed by many rights groups.