P Uttayakumar and four other Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) activists were detained in December last year under the country’s controversial ISA for organising a rally on November 25 to protest against alleged marginalisation of the minority Indian community in Malaysia.

Uthayakumar’s mother, K Kalaivaniy, accompanied by some 100 Hindraf supporters and the movement’s national co-ordinator R S Thanendran, submitted a memorandum to Badawi in his office requesting him to release her son.

The 66-year-old widow said her son’s release was urgent as he needed to take medicine for diabetes.

“He has not taken medication for his diabetes for a month, and this is very dangerous,” she was quoted by Star online as saying.

She pleaded for her son’s release and said she would bear all his medical expenses.

Uthayakumar, 46, is the legal adviser to Hindraf and the Malaysian Peoples Reform Party. He and three others -- M Manoharan(46), V Ganabatirau(34), K Vasantha Kumar(34) -- are currently under detention.

Meanwhile, a Sessions Court here will hear in September the cases of 66 Hindraf supporters, charged for allegedly participating in an illegal assembly here on Nov 25 last year.