Prominent human rights lawyer P Uthayakumar was assaulted and threatened at gunpoint by three men yesterday and he claims that the police were behind the vicious attack.

In his report lodged with the Brickfields police headquarters last night, he said the incident occurred as he was driving along Jalan Medang in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur at 7.15pm.

The lawyer, who was on his way home from his office, said he first spotted a motorcyclist trailing him suspiciously.

He told malaysiakini that he was later blocked by three or four cars. The driver in one of the cars alighted with a sledgehammer.

"A man came with a sledgehammer towards my car. I swerved to the right and hit a lamp post. The man then smashed the windscreen and the driver's side window," he said.

Uthayakumar said he managed to snatch the sledgehammer and a struggle ensued. At this point, he claimed that he saw the man on the motorcycle point a gun at him.

"I immediately jumped out of the passenger side door. I fell to the ground as I believe I was tripped by a third attacker. I got up and ran but I believe I was tripped again. They were attacking me as I fell down," he added.

However, Uthayakumar said he managed to escape on foot and latter called his friends for help. The attack had left him with injuries to his face, hands, legs and back.

Police top brass involved

The lawyer, who is a vocal critic of police abuses, then went to his house and waited for his friends to show up before lodging the report.

"I believe the police top brass is involved in this attack as (I) am a human rights lawyer and have taken numerous cases against the police over the last five years.

"The latest case being that of Francis Udayappan who was allegedly murdered in the Brickfields police lock-up and thrown into the river," he stated in his report.

Uthayakumar said he had earlier lodged a report three weeks ago after his car's windows were smashed at his office's car park.

"I specifically asked for 24-hour police protection but this was not accorded to me. About two hours later when I went back to the scene to take photographs, my car was missing," he added in his report.

Apparently, the police had taken his car for investigation without informing him.

The lawyer said he has lodged numerous reports and has written to the inspector-general of police regarding the threatening calls he receives each time he takes up a case against the police but no action has been taken.

He also called on the royal commission on the police force - which was recently set up to probe allegations of police brutality and corruption - to urgently investigate the matter.

Contacted today, Brickfields police chief Zulhassnan Najib Baharuddin confirmed that the report was lodged. He said the case was being investigated but no arrest has been made so far.

'Black day'

At a press conference at the DAP headquarters in Petaling Jaya this morning, Uthayakumar said he was unfazed and pledged to continue with his work.

However, he urged the police to provide him with around the clock protection in view of the latest incident.

Meanwhile, DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang described the incident as a 'black day' for the government.

The opposition leader said he would raise the matter with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad.

Uthayakumar's brother Wanytha Moorthy, who was also present, told reporters that a man had called him on his mobile phone three days ago and threatened to kill his brother.

He said the caller asked him to tell his brother "not to fool around with the police" and if he did not heed the warning, he would be killed.

Wanytha, who is also a lawyer, lodged a report over the incident with the Brickfields police last night.

Deaths in custody

Over the past few years, Uthayakumar has ruffled many feathers in the police force by taking up cases pertaining to deaths in police custody and police shootings.

He had also accused the police on numerous occasions of being trigger happy and had complied a detail report on those killed by the force.

His 'Memorandum on a Trigger Happy Royal Malaysian Police Force' included the statistic that 1.3 people are shot dead by the police every week in Malaysia based on figures announced by then Deputy Home Minister Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir in Parliament in 1999.

More on trigger-happy cops