KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 14 — Authorities were being unfairly harsh in dealing with GISB Holdings (GISBH) Sdn Bhd members, said lawyer Datuk Rosli Kamaruddin today.

He questioned why the police were invoking the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act, or Sosma, to detain GISBH members when the law was specifically created to allow the government to tackle terrorism.

"Does their business need to shut down? Must they need to be blindfolded when they are arrested, and monitored with (police carrying) M16 rifles? Is that necessary?” Rosli asked in a press conference today.

He added that GISBH members have cooperated with the authorities in the investigations against them and would continue doing so.

"We are appealing to the government for them to be investigated fairly and according to the proper law.”

He also insisted that the police should not be driving the investigations against GISBH, claiming it was a religious matter that should come under the state religious authorities or the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim).

Rosli said religious deviancy and breaches of the Islamic faith were the purview of religious authorities, not civil agencies like the police.

"Does it mean the government will arrest and investigate all those who do not follow the Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jamaah (Sunni school of thought)?” Rosli asked.

At the same press conference, he asked for GISBH members to be given time to prove the legitimacy of some of their children rescued from the homes operated by the group.

Saying there were numerous allegations being made to suggest that the children may be illegitimate, the lawyer said the GISBH members must be given the chance to respond.

He said some members were in preventive detention while others already out on bail have not yet made claims to the children.

Linked to the banned Al-Arqam sect, GISBH is at the heart of a national child sexual abuse and human trafficking scandal that has horrified the country.

Yesterday, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said investigations were also ongoing into possible extremist indoctrination of the children at the welfare homes.