Court stops deportation of JI suspect

Court stops deportation of JI suspect

MALAYSIA: A Malaysian court issued a temporary order on Wednesday
barring the government from deporting a suspected Jamaah
Islamiyah (JI) leader to his native Indonesia, the suspect's
lawyers said.

The order blocks the government from repatriating Mohamad
Iqbal Abdul Rahman before the High Court rules on Nov. 11 on his
bid to stay in Malaysia, where he has lived for years with
permanent residency status.

The government allowed a two-year order detaining Iqbal
without trial on security grounds to expire in August, but
instead of releasing him from prison authorities transferred him
to Immigration Department custody, canceled his Malaysian
residency papers and said he would be deported.

The government gave no reason for not renewing the original
detention order -- though the possibility of a bureaucratic error
has been raised -- or say what was delaying the deportation after
his residency was revoked on Aug. 18.

Indonesia has indicated Iqbal is not on authorities' wanted
lists there or subject to investigation for possible illegal
activity.

Iqbal launched legal action this week challenging the
withdrawal of his Malaysian residency, arguing that the
government had made procedural mistakes in the process and had
given no reasons for declaring him an "undesirable immigrant." --
AP