79. Raja Petra to Kamunting

Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamarudin will be sent to Kamunting Detention Centre in Taiping, Perak today to begin his two-year detention under the Internal Security Act, said his lawyer.

The home minister has signed his detention order last night to be held without trial under section 8 of the tough security law. Under the Act, the government can renew his detention indefinitely.

Lawyers said that the police had informed them this morning that they would be taking Raja Petra to the detention centre.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court is to hear a habeas corpus bid by Raja Petra's lawyers to overturn the detention of the controversial blogger today.

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

The Bar Council said Tuesday it was disappointed with the Government's decision in using the Internal Security Act (ISA) to issue a two-year detention order against prominent blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin.

"The issue of the order on the eve of the hearing of his habeas corpus application is troubling, as it undermined the application," said its president, Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, in a statement to Bernama.

She said if Raja Petra had committed offences he can be charged in Court but the ISA was being used against him where other avenues that afford him a chance to defend himself existed.

"It confirms the impression that the ISA is being used for purposes other than national security. It is being used to stifle dissent," she said.

Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said today he signed the two-year detention order of the Malaysia Today blogger for allegedly publishing articles that insulted Islam - Malaysiakini, Bernama.