Challenge the gazette notice on LTTE, says lawyer

G Saminathan at an earlier hearing at the Melaka Sessions Court in December last year. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: The Home Minister should be challenged to remove a gazette notification listing the defunct Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a terrorism group, a lawyer said today.

He said the challenge should be mounted by G Saminathan, an executive councillor from Melaka, and 11 others who are facing trial on charges relating to LTTE-linked terrorism activities.

The lawyer, Syed Iskandar Syed Jaafar al-Mahdzar, said the 12 people should now demand that the minister revoke the gazette notification, failing which they could seek a judicial review.

“They could compel the minister by way of mandamus to revoke the gazette notification,” he said.

Yesterday, Saminathan’s attempt to be freed on bail pending the outcome of his trial was rejected by the High Court when judicial commissioner Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh said the court was bound to uphold the gazette listing of LTTE as a terror group unless it had been revoked by the Home Minister.

Ahmad Shahrir said the only way that LTTE could be removed from the gazette is for the minister to conduct a review which he is duty-bound every six months, and that it did not matter if the LTTE is declared defunct in other jurisdictions such as the European Union and the group’s country of origin, Sri Lanka.

Syed Iskandar disagreed with the judge’s decision which he said could “give the wrong impression that the judge is subject to the Home Minister’s discretion and is not independent”.

Syed Iskandar said lawyers appearing for Saminathan should file a fresh bail application in the Court of Appeal. - FMT