A lawyer representing five reformasi detainees today complained to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) of the presence of aggressive and unidentified security personnel at the Kamunting Detention Camp whose authority appear to override that of the camp wardens.

The lawyer, Cheah Kah Peng said he, his colleagues and clients have often been threatened by the plainclothes personnel, who are also sometimes seen to interfere with the decisions of camp officials.

"When challenged, they would refuse to divulge their identities but they often behave in very intimidating ways," said Cheah ( left ) when met at the Suhakam headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

"I believe they are Special Branch personnel from the Home Ministry. Their presence seems to be politically motivated."

Cheah was at the commission this morning to lodge two separate reports against Kamunting camp officials and the unidentified persons for alleged intimidation o­n several occasions last week.

Photographed naked

On behalf of his clients, the lawyer requested Suhakam to carry out an inquiry into an incident last Friday during which reformasi detainees Tian Chua and Hishamuddin Rais were allegedly assaulted by 30 heavily armed prison personnel.

Cheah said he suspected the sudden action against the two reformasi detainees to be related to these unidentified persons.

"I was at the camp when a high ranking Kamunting official consented to the return of Tian Chua's laptop which had been kept by the camp authorities for about a year.

"Later, I saw these plainclothes persons going crazy shouting and questioning the wardens why they had allowed Tian Chua to have his laptop," he explained to Suhakam commissioner Asiah Abu Samah, who was o­n hand to receive Cheah's complaints.

"We now consider the laptop to have been robbed by the camp officials. It was removed forcefully from my client (Tian Chua) and there is an element of theft in the action," he noted.

Cheah said in addition to the assault, the camp officials had also taken other actions to humiliate Tian Chua and Hishamuddin ( left ).

"The detainees were slapped, stripped naked, pushed and forced against the floor, handcuffed, sat o­n, beaten with batons and had pictures of them in the nude taken by camp photographers as they were being overpowered," he related.

"We do not know why they wanted to take these photographs - whether it was for their record or for humiliation purposes," he added.

Threatening words

On his second complaint, Cheah said he too was harassed by security personnel at the camp when he tried to visit his clients the morning after the alleged assault.

"I received a call from Sivarasa Rasiah, another lawyer representing the detainees. He informed me that our client, (Tian Chua, photo ) had placed a telephone call through the camp authorities, requesting for a lawyer to see him immediately," he said.

However, Cheah said when he arrived at the camp, he was repeatedly denied permission to see his clients. He was also not allowed to enter the main gate of the camp facilities, unlike previous occasions.

The lawyer related, however, that when he protested against the denial of entry to a senior camp official who came out to meet him in the company of several other individuals, a plainclothes officer suddenly leapt at him, shouting threats.

"He (acted violently) against me (pouncing, shouting, spitting, brandishing his fists, swearing). He was o­nly restrained by the other wardens later when I told them that I would lodge a complaint with the Bar Council."

Cheah said he was threatened with language such as "you take care of yourself outside, we will...", "when I see you again, I will..." and "you think you can do anything because you are a lawyer, just wait and see when you are outside".

The lawyer said when he demanded to know the identity of the individual, the camp's deputy director merely acknowledged that the man was o­ne of the camp's personnel.

"Generally, the camp officials are pleasant. The unruly and violent o­nes are these plainclothes people. Usually we see at least two or three of them at the camp every time we (lawyers) visit the detainees," he explained.

Continued detention

Meanwhile, Sivarasa ( centre ) who was also present at the memorandum handover asked Suhakam to look into the camp official's refusal to allow confidential legal access to the ISA detainees as provided under the Federal Constitution.

"The camp officers are usually listening to everything and scrutinising everything we have. It makes nonsense of the issue of legal access. In reality, there is no legal access rights as guaranteed under the Federal Constitution.

"Sometimes, we bring along prepared affidavits for the defence of our clients. They photocopied these documents as well. In our view, this violates our clients' constitutional rights," he stressed.

According to Suaram coordinator and anti-ISA campaigner Yap Swee Seng, Suhakam should also look into whether there are any legal grounds for the Home Ministry to continue detaining the reformasi activists.

Yap said although the government has argued that Sections 7(3) and 8 of the Internal Security Act are not related, this does not appear to be the view of the ISA review committee.

"The Federal Court has declared the (initial 60 days of) detention of these persons to be illegal. The ISA review committee has recommended for their release twice. There does not appear to be any (legal) basis for their continued detention except by the orders of the police and home ministry.

"This brings us to the question of whether we are ruled by law or whether we are ruled by the police and the Special Branch people," he said.

Investigation started

On receiving the memoranda and photocopies of individual testimonies of the Friday incident by all five detainees, Suhakam commissioner Asiah Abu Samah said an investigation has already started into the matter.

"We want to get all this information and make sure that all the facts are accurate. We will then check with the camp authorities o­n their side of the story," she said.

Asked if the commission will be sending officials to the camp for a visit soon, she said this will be determined later based o­n the body's inquiries.

Aside from Tian Chua and Hishamuddin, the other reformasi activists presently detained at the Kamunting camp are Saari Sungib, Lokman Nor Adam and Dr Badrulamin Bahron.

The group was arrested in April 2001 for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government by militant means, a charge which they have denied.

Keadilan Youth Chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor was arrested together with the ISA detainees but was transferred to the Kajang prison last year to serve a two-year jail term for breaching the Official Secrets Act by leaking confidential documents relating to a graft probe to the media.