Lawyers for five ethnic Indians, who have been detained under Malaysia's controversial security law, asked the High Court to allow their clients to be present during the hearing of their application seeking release.Lead counsel Karpal Singh said the court could use its discretion in making an order for the detainees to appear in court."The habeas corpus application hearing is of public interest, where they need to be present in court to defend themselves, and where the respondents - a minister and the Kamunting Detention Camp superintendent - are expected to file nearly 40 affidavits in reply," Singh said.An official of the Attorney General's office said he had just been informed about the verbal application and needed to refer the matter to AG Abdul Gani Patail for further instruction."Since the matter involves the Attorney General, the applicants should make a formal application to his office and supported by affidavits on why they should be produced in court," he said.The court fixed January 24, 25 and 28 for hearing of the habeas corpus applications.Another counsel, Gobind Singh Deo, later said that the applications to produce them in court were rare since they were detained under Section 8 of the Internal Security Act (ISA) and not under Section 73 of the Act which required in-depth police investigation before a further detention order was made.
