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PUTRAJAYA, June 24 (Bernama) -- "Don't be such in a hurry to deport a person that you forget the law" -- this is the message from the Court of Appeal to the Immigration Department and the Home Affairs Ministry.

Justice Datuk Suriyadi Halim Omar who led a three-men panel told Senior Federal Counsel Nizam Zakaria to pass that message to the two government agencies after the quorum regarded their conduct to deport a suspected Jemaah Islamiah (JI) member and his family to Indonesia on May 14 2004 as "overzealous".

Suriyadi said the Immigration Department should not deport Mohamad Iqbal Abdul Rahman better known as Abu Jibril while his court case was still pending and undecided by the High Court as Malaysia has laws to abide.

He said the Immigration's Department's conduct was tantamount to contempt of court.

Suriyadi who sat together with Justices Datuk Md. Raus Sharif and Datuk Zainun Ali remitted Mohamad Iqbal Abdul Rahman's case to the High Court (Appellate and Special Powers Division) for re-hearing of his (Mohamad Iqbal's) judicial review application seeking for a certiorari order to quash the Immigration Director-General and Home Affairs Ministry 's order prohibiting him from residing in Malaysia.

The quorum had allowed Mohamad Iqbal's appeal to set aside the High Court's decision delivered on Sept 7 2004, dismissing his application for judicial review on the Immigration Department and the Home Affairs' decision declaring him as a prohibited immigrant and that his continued presence in the country from Aug 8 2003 was unlawful.

Mohamad Iqbal is an Indonesian who holds permanent resident status here. He and his Indonesian wife Fatimah Zahrah A. Aziz sought to review the two government agencies' order declaring them as prohibited immigrants and that their entry and residence in Malaysia undesirable on the grounds that they were undesirable persons.

The couple has nine children. They were represented by lawyers Amer Hamzah Arshad and Edmund Bon.

Amer Hamzah argued in the appeal proceeding today that the order sought by his client was not academic although they (Mohamad Iqbal and family) were already deported.

He said the procedures adopted by the Home Affairs Minister and the Immigration Director-General were wrong as they had used the wrong class of section under the Immigration Act to declare Mohamad Iqbal as a prohibited immigrant and undesirable to reside here.

Mohamad Iqbal was detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for two years and his detention order expired on Aug 22 2003. However, four days before the expiry of the ISA detention, he was re-arrested under the Immigration Act after the Government decided to withdraw his resident status in the country.

Although the High Court hearing Mohamad Iqbal's writ of Habeas Corpus on May 21, 2004 held that his detention was unlawful, the court also rendered his writ of habeas corpus seeking for his released academic because at that time Mohamad Iqbal was already deported back to Indonesia. He did not appeal.

The militant group, JI, is allegedly responsible for two counts of bombing in Indonesia. The first in Bali on Oct 12, 2002 and the second at the J W Marriot Hotel in Jakarta on Aug 5, 2003.

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