Alleged coup d'etat plotter Badaruddin Ismail said he was asked about matters unrelated to his charges, including his knowledge of news portal Malaysiakini , during his Internal Security Act (ISA) detention back in 2001.

NONE Testifying before the Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday, Badaruddin ( right ) said that at one point, the interrogations centred on his relationship with Malaysiakini journalists.

“They asked me the persons that I knew, their characters, (political) inclination and belief, and the source of funding of Malaysiakini ,” said Badaruddin, who was a secretariat member of human rights watchdog Suaram at the time of his arrest.

Other unrelated questions posed by the interrogators relates to leaders within the then Parti Keadilan Nasional, Suaram, the reformasi movement and the Black 14 protest.

“They asked me about Anwar Ibrahim. Overall, they tried to tell me that Anwar was a ‘foreign agent’ and an immoral person,” he said.

Badaruddin testified that the daily interrogation during his 41-day detention period were focused on “indirect information gathering” which had nothing to do with the grounds of his arrest.

‘SB wanted me to join Umno’

Badaruddin is one of five plaintiffs in a civil suit seeking a declaration that their arrest in 2001 under the Section 8 and Section 73 of the ISA was unconstitutional. They are also demanding an unspecified sum in damages.

isa 6 Badaruddin is among several reformasi leaders who were nabbed in 2001 for allegedly trying to topple the federal government by force.

Others included Tian Chua, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, Hishamuddin Rais, N Gobalakrishnan, Ezam Mohd Noor, Lokman Adam and Badrolamin Bahron.

When asked by plaintiff’s counsel Ho Kok Yew on the grounds of his arrest, Badaruddin replied that the police accused him of involvement in activities which threatened public order.

He added that the real cause of his detention were his political beliefs and that the defendants, which included the then inspector-general of police Norian Mai, had abused their powers.

“(The investigating officials) had been asking me political questions throughout my remand, such as what activities were being held by the opposition party (Keadilan).

“They even tried to force me to (pledge allegiance to) Umno,” he claimed.

Gagged before Suhakam meet

To another question from Ho, Badaruddin said his arrest would have been avoided if not for Norian having made false accusations against him.

NONE He pointed out that the New Straits Times carried a report on April 11, 2001, quoting Norian ( left ) as saying that more “militants” would be arrested soon. Badaruddin was subsequently taken on April 26.

“As a result of Norian’s wild allegations, I was detained for 41 days under ISA. Both my family’s and my name had been tainted,” he said.

Meanwhile, he also testified that before he met with Suhakam commissioners, investigators had urged him not to divulge details.

He told the court that a “deputy director of the Special Branch”, known to him only as Razak, accompanied him during the meeting with Suhakam.

“I couldn’t say too much to Suhakam because I was being watched,” he said, adding that the meeting lasted only 10 minutes.

During cross-examination by senior federal counsel Iznan Ishak today, Badaruddin stressed that he was threatened several times by the investigating officials during police detention.

He told the High Court that the officials had asked him to be “cooperative”, failing which he would be detained under ISA for another two years.

He rejected Iznan’s notion that “the threats” were only his suggestions and not what had really transpired, saying that such threats were consistent throughout his interrogations.

Badrolamin had to forgo visits due to 'harassment'