FIVE men accused of trying to promote the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s (LTTE) ideology will have to spend Deepavali behind bars, as their habeas corpus application hearing has been set for next week.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court today fixed next Thursday to hear the application. The prosecution and defence were told to submit affidavits the day before.

Lawyer Ramkarpal Singh, acting for the five, told reporters after case mention that he had hoped to have the application heard before the celebrations.

Deepavali falls on Sunday.

“We were hoping that it could be done as early as tomorrow. Now, the five will have to wait until after Deepavali to have their habeas corpus heard.

“They were supposed to be with their families. The earlier they can get their application heard, the faster they can be released,” said the Bukit Gelugor lawmaker.

The five are among 12 people arrested on October 10 and 12 over their alleged links with LTTE.

DAP’s Malacca exco and Gadek assemblyman G. Saminathan and Seremban Jaya rep P. Gunasekaran are among the five applying for habeas corpus.

Ramkarpal, who is also DAP legal bureau chairman, told the press that he requested for all five of his clients to be brought to court on the hearing date.

He said it is not compulsory for habeas corpus applicants to be present in court.

“The judge will consider my request. I made the request on record.

“The registrar has not given an answer, but he will get orders from the judge.”

Family members of the five were present at court today, but refused to speak to the media. After the proceedings, some were seen in tears while Ramkarpal updated them on the case.

On Tuesday, he filed a habeas corpus application on behalf of Saminathan, Gunasekaran, Chandru Suparmaniam, Suresh Kumar Velayuthan and Arivainthan Subramaniam.

The application is to challenge their detention under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma).

The five, in their motion, affirmed that they are not part of the banned, and now-defunct, LTTE, and denied trying to revive the terrorist group.

Habeas corpus is a legal recourse for those under detention to plead their case before a judge unless the authorities can prove lawful grounds for their arrest.

On October 10, the Special Branch Counterterrorism Division apprehended seven men on suspicion of promoting, supporting, channelling funds to and possessing materials related to LTTE.

They were detained in Selangor, Perak, Kedah, Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Kuala Lumpur.

Two days later, another five men were picked up in Penang, Malacca and Selangor.

All 12 are being held under Sosma, which allows for detention of up to 28 days without charges. – October 24, 2019.