The environment in Dang Wangi district police headquarters detention centre is harsh, and clean drinking water is not provided to the detainees, an activist alleged today.

The human rights activist, Lawrence Jayaraj, was detained for two nights for two of his Facebook posts that supposedly insulted Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and was released at noon today.

“On my first day in the detention centre, there was no water. I was put together with almost 44 people in one big cell and there was completely no water in the toilet. Nothing!” Lawrence said.

“The basic human right I think one should have is clean drinking water. Unfortunately, none of us were given a bottle of water to drink.”

He said the detainees were deprived and that it was necessary to provide them with clean water, immaterial of whether they were to be charged with committing an offence or not.

Lawrence was investigated under Section 504 of the Penal Code for the Facebook posts, which were said to have been made on his Facebook page on Sept 2.

Malaysiakini is seeking response on these complaints from Dang Wangi OCPD Asst Commissioner Zainol Samah.

Four others questioned at Dang Wangi

Meanwhile, four other activists, Maria Chin Abdullah, Hishamuddin Rais, A Samad Said and Rozan Azen Mat Rasip were questioned by the police in the Dang Wangi police station this morning on the Tangkap Malaysian Official 1 rally that was held on Aug 27.

Maria and Hishamuddin were questioned under Section 9(5) of Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) and Section 505(b) of the Penal Code for, among other things, issuing statements that could cause “fear or alarm to the public”, while the other two were investigated under Section 9(5) of PAA.

Maria said the Tangkap MO1 rally abided by the PAA and hence there was no reason for the police to say it was illegal.

“Notice was actually given 10 days before and they (organisers) filled up the form and submitted it to the police,” she said.“No untoward incident happened on Aug 27, so I think this charges are very fraud and should be dropped immediately.”