PUTRAJAYA, WED:

The Federal Court today dismissed the appeal of the five Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders who are being held under the Internal Security Act.

In upholding the decision of the Judicial Commissioner, the three-man bench - Datuk Allaudin Mohd Sheriff, Datuk Ariffin Zakaria and Datuk Hashim Yusof - ruled that the decision to detain the five under the ISA was legal.

The ruling was made after reading the affidavits of the respondents, including that of the Prime Minister’s, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who was then the Internal Security Minister.

The Hindraf five - lawyers M. Manoharan, 46, (who is also the Kota Alam Shah assemblyman), P. Uthayakumar, 46, V. Ganabatirau, 34, R. Kengadharan, 40, and Hindraf coordinator T. Vasantha Kumar - were represented by Karpal Singh who said that he would file for a review of the ruling on Monday.

The respondents were represented by Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail.

Family members and relatives of the five were present at the Federal Court. Several were seen sobbing after the decision.