Malawi can't deport 5 suspects

2003-06-24 14:26

Blantyre - Malawi's high court on Tuesday rejected a government application to deport five people suspected of belonging to the Islamic extremist al-Qaeda network.

Judge Healey Potani said the government should first comply with an earlier order granted on Sunday that stopped the deportation of the five suspects.

That order required the five, arrested in Blantyre on Saturday in a joint operation by Malawi's national intelligence bureau and the US central intelligence agency, to be brought before a court within 24 hours or be released on bail.

The five - a Kenyan, a Sudanese, a Saudi and two Turkish nationals - were all legally resident in Malawi and engaged in businesses, as well as teaching at Islamic schools.

Fahad Assani, Malawi's director of prosecutions, said on Sunday the US government had asked for the deportation, but did not specify why.

"I'm puzzled why the five suspects cannot be brought before court to justify their deportation," Potani said on Tuesday.

Potani was the judge on Sunday who ordered that the five could not be deported. He said the application by the government was a "mere ploy to circumvent the law. The order made on Sunday remains".

Defence lawyer Shabir Latif said he was happy with the ruling, but was worried the suspects were still in custody at unknown places.

He said envoys from Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey were coming to Malawi to pressure the government to release them.

"Their constitutional rights have been violated," Latif said.

- AFX