Lawyer plans habeas corpus to ‘free’ Sultan and wife

(The Star) – The Kelantan palace crisis is turning murkier — with a lawyer for the royal couple planning to file a writ of habeas corpus to “free” the Sultan of Kelantan in what would be an unprecedented move and police saying that the Ruler is not being “held” at the Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital here.

Sultan Ismail Petra Sultan Yahya Petra is currently heavily guarded at the hospital’s Royal ward, where he has been placed since Tuesday.

> Kelantan deputy police chief Senior Asst Comm (II) Datuk Amir Hamzah Ibrahim said the Sultan was not under “house arrest” at the hospital but police increased security under orders of the Acting Sultan Tengku Muhammad Faris Petra Sultan Ismail Petra;

> Tengku Muhammad Faris issued a decree that his father must be moved to a safer place following the arrest of a palace official in connection with the shooting of a palace guard last week;

> Lawyer Haaziq Pillay said he was planning to file a writ of habeas corpus soon for the Ruler to leave the state for treatment.

> The plan to send the ailing Sultan to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital for further medical treatment was called off after his blood pressure shot up.