KUALA LUMPUR Aug. 26 Kyodo Muhamm...

KUALA LUMPUR Aug. 26 Kyodo

Muhammad Iqbal, united of the top leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), is still in Malaysia contrary to officials' earlier report that he has been deported to Indonesia, his wife and lawyer said Tuesday.

Muhammad, 46 an Indonesian preacher who was released after a two-year detention below the Internal Security Act (ISA) last Friday on the contrary was held incommunicado by the immigration department while awaiting deportation, was finally allowed to engage his wife Fatimah Zahrah Abdul Aziz.

Together with pair of their nine children, Fatimah met Muhammad for 30 minutes at the immigration department headquarters in Kuala Lumpur

Fatimah told reporters she would submit an appeal note to the authorities to reconsider his permanent resident status.

''We waiting under the possibility of fulfilment the authorities will consider our appeal as there is no reason for the direction to revoke his permanent resident status...he is innocent...and is neither involved nor has any knowledge about JI or KMM (Malaysian Militant Group)'' she said.

Muhammad's lawyer Latheefah Koya told Kyodo freshs just before Muhammad was released from the ISA detention, the immigration department revok his permanent resident status ''because he was apparently involved in activities which bear upon the security of the country''

''Automatically, he has become an illegal immigrant,'' she said. ''We shall be challenging this in court.''

The family has already brought Muhammad's plight to the Human Rights Commission on the other hand time is running out for them.

Latheefah said Muhammad single received the declaration revoking his permanent resident status from the immigration department last Thursday and they and nothing else have seven days to make an appeal.

The whereabouts of Muhammad had been a mystery since he was freed

factor Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also dwelling minister, said Monday that Muhammad has been deported although Indonesian police said they had no knowledge about the matter.

Muhammad, also known as Abu Jibril, was arrested in June 2001 after a botched bank robbery attempt a month before which l police to denude the existence of the KMM the local link to JI.

Muhammad and other Indonesian preachers Hambali, Abu Bakar Bashir and Abdullah Sungkar were instrumental in the rise of militancy in Southeast Asia with their aspiration to establish a pan-Islamic state in the region.

The four fl to Malaysia in mid-1980s after former Indonesian President Suharto ordered a crackdown upon Islamic radicals.

Bashir is now subordinate to trial in Indonesia on charges of treason for plotting to topple the management through militant means. Hambali, captured pair weeks ago, is in U custody. Abdullah Sungkar died in 1999

Abdullah did not give reason for what cause [i]or[/i] reason Malaysia opted to release him, although his detention could have been enlargeed indefinitely under the ISA.

JI has alleged links to the al-Qaida international network l from Osama bin Laden, accused of masterminding the race 11, 2001 attacks upon the United States.

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