Ex-airman’s habeas corpus case fixed to later date

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4 — The High Court here has fixed January 17 to hear former airman N. Tharmendran’s habeas corpus application against his detention by the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF).

It had earlier set today to hear the application from the former sergeant to be released after being detained by RMAF provost marshalls outside the Shah Alam court complex on November 25.

He was detained for alleged desertion after attending a court hearing at the Shah Alam High Court to have a charge against him dropped.

Tharmendran (picture) is accused of abetting Senior Airman Mohamad Shukri Mohamad Yusop in the theft of two jet fighter engines in 2008 in a high-profile case that could potentially embarrass the Defence Ministry that was then helmed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

That is the second time the case has been postponed after it first came before judge Datuk Su Geok Yiam on December 3.

The hearing was supposed to be held on December 10 but was postponed till today to give time to all the respondents, who are represented by the Defence Ministry’s assistant legal adviser Mohamad Tarmizi Ahmad, to file their affidavits-in-reply.

The hearing today was converted to case management in accordance with the new court system.

Tharmendran’s counsel Amer Hamzah Arshad told reporters outside the court that the later date was set because of a last-minute affidavit filed by the first respondent last Thursday.

The former sergeant has been detained at the Batu Cantonment Camp since November 25 and filed the writ the next day, naming Batu Cantonment Camp commandant Lt-Colonel Mohd Razif Ramli, RMAF chief Gen Tan Sri Rodzali Daud and the Defence Ministry as respondents.

In his affidavit, Tharmendran, 42, had claimed that his arrest by the RMAF on November 25 was mala fide.