Twenty-six detainees arrested during Sunday's reformasi rally complained to the magistrate yesterday that they suffered serious injuries caused by the police during their arrests.

Among the injuries the detainees sustained were broken ribs and vertebrae, deep cuts on the head and body, bleeding nose and ears, swellings and aberrations.

Another two detainees have been warded at the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang. It has been reported that one of them has lost his eyesight after being hit by tear gas while the other has been admitted into the Intensive Care Unit due to serious head injuries.

The detainees claimed that there was no violence on their part and it was the police that had acted aggressively.

A 25-year-old female detainee Nor Azimah Md Nor told the magistrate that she was forced to strip naked at the Kapar police lock-up and asked to squat and stand up10 times by a woman police officer.

Forty other detainees also complained to lawyers from the Bar Council Legal Aid Centre that they were kept in the Black Maria for about three hours in very cramped conditions.

One of them, PAS state assemblymen for Besut Abdul Aziz Abbas, claimed that the police sprayed eye-irritant fumes into the truck, making it very difficult for those inside to breathe.

According to human rights group Suaram, not all of those who were injured have been given medical attention. Those who were taken to the hospital complained that they were also not given any medical treatment as the pharmacy was closed.

Denied food from families

On Sunday, riot police fired tear gas and blasted water cannons on a 10,000-strong crowd of reformasi supporters who were gathered along the Kesas highway near Shah Alam yesterday, on their way to attend the 100,000 People's Gathering organised by Keadilan.

A total of 126 participants, including four women, were arrested.

They were brought before a magistrate at the Port Klang police station yesterday and have been remanded for a further five days for the police to complete investigations under Section 117 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

One of those remanded is a 17-year-old girl who is due to sit for the SPM examination next week.

In a press statement released today, Suaram said that the police acted unprofessionally by intimidating lawyers and family members of the detainees who gathered at the police station yesterday morning.

The group said that family members were denied their rights to send food to the detainees while 11 lawyers from the Legal Aid Centre who represented all the detainees were kept waiting outside the police station gate under the blazing hot sun from morning until about 3.30pm.

Suaram also expressed shock that not a single statement from the detainees was recorded by the police since the arrest until the remand application. The motive behind this slow pace in police investigations need to be questioned, the group said.

'Worst injuries'

Meanwhile, Keadilan splinter party Prim today urged Inspector-General of Police Norian Mai to immediately investigate the disturbing precedent set by the police.

In a letter faxed to Norian, Prim pro-tem secretary-general P Uthayakumar said that the injuries sustained by the detainees this time were the worst in the country's 43 years of history since independence.

"An accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty and therefore the police have no powers to beat up a detainee," he said.

Uthayakumar also called on the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) to treat the matter urgently and to visit the detainees to record their complaints and injuries.