KUALA LUMPUR - The lawyer for five detained ethnic Indian activists on Wednesday called on the country's highest court to immediately release them, claiming the government was abusing its power.
The leaders of rights group Hindraf are being held indefinitely under the tough Internal Security Act (ISA) after earlier mounting anti-discrimination protests.
Lawyer Karpal Singh, representing the five, who have been held since December, accused the Home Affairs minister of abusing his powers by using the detention law.
"What the minister did amounts to exercise of dictatorial powers. The judiciary is the last bastion to prevent excesses of the executive," he said.
"It is the defamation of life, liberty, without the opportunity to defend oneself in the court of law," he told a panel of three top judges who are set to decide on whether to release the five.
Hindraf angered the government by mounting an unprecedented mass rally last November alleging discrimination against minority ethnic Indians in Malaysia, where the population is dominated by Muslim Malays.
Police used tear gas, water cannon and baton charges to break up the Hindraf street protest, which drew 8,000 people.
One of the detained, lawyer M. Manoharan, who stood as an opposition candidate in the Selangor state legislature, soundly beat the incumbent in March 8 polls while in detention.
His wife, S. Pushpaneela, appealed for his immediate release.
"I plead with the prime minister to show some compassion to my family and I, who are under great stress and strains and also a feeling of uncertainty about our future," she said.
A group of about 200 Hindraf members had gathered outside the tightly guarded court house chanting "Makkal Sakti" or people power, while waving posters which read "Free the Hindraf 5." The crowd later dispersed peacefully.
Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail is due to oppose Karpal's appeal motion on Thursday.
"I will act solely on the basis of the law as the opposing counsel," he told AFP.
Malaysia's newly appointed Home Affairs minister Syed Hamid Albar has repeatedly rejected appeals to release the Hindraf leaders citing security concerns. - AFP/ir
Channel NewsAsia
PEOPLE'S POWER
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