Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamarudin will be sent to the Kamunting Detention Centre in Taiping, Perak today to begin his two-year detention under the Internal Security Act, said his lawyers.
Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar had signed his detention order last night for the blogger to be held without trial under section 8(1) of the tough security law. Under the Act, the government can renew his detention indefinitely.
Lawyers said the police had informed them this morning that they would be taking Raja Petra to the detention centre.
"Act by the minister to sign the section 8 order yesterday is completely unacceptable," said Raja Petra's lead lawyer Malik Imtiaz.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court is to hear a habeas corpus bid by Raja Petra's lawyers to overturn the detention of the controversial blogger today.
Habeas corpus is a writ ordering prisoners to be brought before a judge to ascertain if there are any procedural defects which could render their detention unlawful.
Raja Petra's wife Marina Abdullah confirmed that the police had informed her that the detention order had been issued by the minister yesterday.
Also present in the court this morning was recently resigned minister Zaid Ibrahim.
Raja Petra, 58, was arrested along with two others two weeks ago and has been under police custody in an unknown location.
The other two - Sin Chew Daily senior journalist Tan Hoon Cheng, 33 and Selangor senior executive councillor and parliamentarian Teresa Kok, 43 - have since been freed.
Tan was released 18 hours after her arrest, while Kok was freed seven days later.
According to his lawyer J Chandra, Raja Petra was arrested for publishing articles on his news portal which tarnished the leadership of the country and insulted the sanctity of Islam.
The former newspaper columnist has already been charged with sedition and defamation after linking Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife to the sensational murder of a Mongolian woman.
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