Government prosecutors today raised objections to the revision of the four-day remand order against an opposition party's webmaster who was arrested for police questioning last month.

A PKR information bureau statement stated that the prosecution argued the application has now become academic as the detainee, Nathaniel Tan had been released on July 17.

The preliminary objection was raised by deputy public prosecutor Yakob Md Sam when the matter was heard in the Kuala Lumpur High Court this morning.

Tan's lawyer, R Sivarasa however submitted that the application for revision was filed a day before his client was released and that the matter was of public interest.

The counsel also said that the High Court's decision in this matter was necessary as it will guide the magistrates' in hearing such remand cases in a "more professional" way in the future.

"Even though Tan had been released, the court should continue hearing and deciding on the matter," Sivarasa was quoted as saying in the PKR statement.

Justice Mohamed Zabidin Mohd Diah later fixed Sept 10 to decide on the prosecution's preliminary objection.

'Questionable' procedures

Blogger Tan, who is known as Nat, was picked up from a NGO office by three plainclothes police personnel last month and held for questioning for allegedly breaching the Official Secrets Act.

His lawyers have challenged the police procedures in detaining Tan, which they deemed as "questionable" and decided to file a revision on his four-day remand order.

During his detention, he was investigated by the police Cyber Crimes Division in connection with an anonymous comment left on his blog.

The comment relates to an anonymous website which implicated Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharom of corruption.

Johari has been cleared of the allegations but has ordered the CCID to crack down on those who spread "lies" about the country's leaders on the Internet.