Facebook 'threat' mere reminder to Saiful

"DE, Wa nak tanya lu, pasti ke lu boleh hidup esok....jgn aipkan orang, monyet pun jangan."

And it is that exact sentence that earned Badrul Hisham Abdul Jalal five days in jail.

The 40-year-old, who claims to be a PAS member, had posted that line on the Facebook page of Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trial star witness Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, who claimed it was another death threat .

Recounting how the whole issue came about, Badrul (left) told reporters that he decided to post the line on Wednesday morning during a lull at work.

"As a Muslim, I was just reminding Saiful not to speak ill of people. You never know if you will still live or die tomorrow.

"It was not a threat," he said at a press conference at the PKR headquarters here.

Fear takes over

Badrul, visibly shaken by his five-day detention, said he happened to read some news online the next day about Saiful ( far right ) filing a police report regarding his "death threat".

"I felt that I did nothing wrong and wanted to clarify the situation, so I went to the police station in Klang on Friday.

"The sergeant spoke to me and said they first wanted to check on a file related to the case. Then he simply said I was under arrest. I just didn't know what to say," Badrul recounted.

He admitted that the police had treated him well over the five days he was detained, but could not understand why it took them so long to take his statement, which he said was done just before he was released yesterday evening.

He was also disturbed by the fact that his family had not been informed of his detention.

Bad habits die hard

PKR information chief Latheefa Koya (right) decried the police's arbitrary arrest of Badrul, calling it unprofessional and an old tactic.

"This is standard practice for them. They will arrest first, and then seek evidence later.

"The victim (Badrul) was suffering from gout when he was taken for five days, and every time we asked they would say they are still investigating the case when in fact they only took his statement yesterday evening.

"This is a gross injustice and we will advise the victim on the next course of action should he choose to pursue the issue," she said.

VIDEO | 8 mins