A FORMER nominee for Young Australian of the Year is asking to be granted a pseudonym when she appears in court to sue the NSW Government for her arrest in a drug bust that ended her hope of winning the national honour.

Iktimal Hage-Ali has also applied for details of her case to be suppressed under a non-publication order.

Ms Hage-Ali, who now lives in Dubai, was arrested at her Punchbowl home in drug raids by the Middle Eastern organised crime squad in November 2006, but was never charged. She is suing the state of NSW for wrongful arrest and detention and her case is due to be heard in the District Court later this year.

Ms Hage-Ali, who was a member of the former prime minister John Howard's Muslim Community Reference Group and worked in the NSW Attorney-General's Department, was handcuffed and taken to Bankstown police station. There she allegedly told police she had bought cocaine for her own use but did not have any links with the drug suppliers.

Yesterday her barrister, James Sheller, confirmed Ms Hage-Ali would attend court next month to be questioned about the need for the pseudonym, but declined to reveal whether she would then be resident in Sydney because the application for a pseudonym "relates to her personal safety".

Two men arrested in the raids, Mohammed Fahda and Khoder Katrib, were sentenced in April to at least 22 months in prison for supplying a prohibited drug. Both men had prior convictions and were given a maximum prison term of almost four years.

The men had been denied bail last year on the grounds they could threaten public safety.

The raids and their arrests had come after a three-month police operation involving the interception of thousands of phone calls.

After her arrest Ms Hage-Ali, who was NSW Young Australian of the Year, relinquished her state title before the selection of the national award, blaming damaging publicity. Then 22, she said she had made some mistakes and had exhibited "poor judgment".

The Government is expected to oppose Ms Hage-Ali's application.