PUTRAJAYA: Another 13 Internal Security Act detainees, including Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) legal adviser P. Uthayakumar, will be freed in the next few days.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein made the announcement at his office after chairing the ministry's post-cabinet meeting yesterday.

Two other Hindraf leaders -- M. Manoharan, who is Kota Alam Shah state assemblyman, and K. Vasantha Kumar -- will also be freed.

Their release will come less than two months after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak ordered 13 ISA detainees, including Hindraf leaders, V. Ganabatirau and R. Kengadharan, to be freed soon after taking over the premiership from Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The five Hindraf leaders were detained in December 2007 for their involvement in protests which saw tens of thousands of Indians taking to the streets.
Besides the Hindraf leaders, the other Malaysian detainees to be freed are Zulkepli Marzuki, Jeknal Adil and Adzmi Pindatun.

They will be joined by two Indonesians, Zainun Rasyhid and Aboud Ghafar Shahril, and five Filipinos, Sufian Salih, Hasim Talib, Abdul Jamal Azahari, Yusof Mohd Salam and Husin Alih.

Hishammuddin said the Malaysian detainees would be released in two or three days after the documentation process was completed.

"The foreigners will only be freed after we have arranged for deportation with their respective embassies."

He said the 13 would be released as "we feel that the provisions under the ISA are very clear. They have been detained for quite some time and we feel those provisions in the present circumstances allow them to be freed".

Asked whether Manoharan's release had anything to do with his intention to resign as assemblyman, Hishammuddin said: "None at all. It is not political at all. This is how I am going to lead the ministry."

Manoharan had, through his wife, S. Pushpaneela, said that he was considering vacating his seat, citing as reason his guilt over the inability to serve his constituents.

Asked about the review of the ISA, Hishammuddin said no time frame had been fixed to complete the exercise.

"We've been asked to put up a draft of the key performance index to the prime minister soon and the review is one of the matters we discussed in our post-cabinet meeting today (yesterday)."

On the detention of several lawyers and Pakatan Rakyat supporters in Perak when the state assembly sitting turned into a free-for-all on Thursday, Hishammuddin said lawyers were not above the law.

The Malaysian Bar, however, has expressed dissatisfaction over their arrests.

"The council can come up with a statement. If they say that we have to go through the legal process, then go ahead. They should know better. If they think just because they are lawyers, they are immune to the law, then that is not so."