The government’s decision to deport Saudi journalist Hamza Kashgari back to Saudi Arabia on Sunday has been criticised by lawmakers and activists as a disregard for human rights and rule of law. Hamza had fled his country after his Twitter comments on the Prophet Muhammad were considered blasphemy, a crime punishable by death in Saudi Arabia. He was about to board his flight to New Zealand at KLIA when he was detained by the immigration authorities on Feb 9. 

Ragunath Kesavan, who was one of the lawyers who obtained the court injunction on Feb 12 to stop Hamza's deportation, says the journalist was denied access to laywers and the UNHCR throughout his detention, up till the point of deportation. Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein has denied receiving the court injunction prior to the deportation.

"The matter is now part of the issue of the court. When we got the order on Sunday, we had undertaken to file the writ of habeas corpus on Monday (Feb 13) and the High Court had fixed the hearing for 9.30am. The government was represented by senior federal counsel. We had asked that they file an affadavit in reply, to give facts on what exactly happened... we're not sure what time he left KLIA," Kesavan tells BFM in a recent interview. 

He says the haste in which Hamza Kashgari was deported only leaves lawmakers and human rights activists to assume that the government had no legal authority to deport him. 

"The concern we have -- and this is what we have raised -- is that the government of Malaysia has bypassed this process which is provided for under the extradition act...  we are of the view that the government did not want to go through this process because they had no legal basis to extradite him."

In the following interview, Ragunath talks about the Extradition Act, rights of political asylum seekers in Malaysia and why every individual deserves the right to legal representation -- regardless of nationality.