The trial of Tenaganita director Irene Fernandez was today adjourned to tomorrow morning as magistrate Juliana Mohamad had to hear the case of former RTM newscaster Sharma Shukla.

The women's rights activist is being charged with publishing "false news" about the ill-treatment of detainees in camps for migrant workers.

Fernandez, who is also a KeADILan supreme council member, faces three years in prison if convicted and is currently out on bail.

The trial, which has become the longest running trial in the country, entered its 220th day yesterday, after being postponed for more than a month as the court could not find an interpreter for the Bangladeshi defence witnesses.

The court yesterday heard the testimony of Moron Mozumber, who was a former detainee of the Kemayan detention camp in Pahang.

The 44-year-old Bangladeshi broke down while recalling his "orientation" upon arrival at the detention camp, forcing the court to take a 15-minute break.

Mozumber told the court that he was forced to strip naked at the check point of the detention camp at about midnight and subsequently made to leap frog to the block in which he was to be detained.

"I was physical examined. Then I had to leap frog for 200 yards. Feeling weak while leap frogging, I fell. The policeman kicked my buttocks hard and the pain lasted about four to five hours," he told defence counsel M. Puravelan during examination in chief.

He added that he had to continue leap-frogging despite experiencing pain in his waist, knees and legs, as he feared that he would be kicked again.

"I felt a pricking and throbbing pain in my head and each time I lifted myself to leap frog, there was extreme pain on my thighs and calf. It was unbearable," he recounted.

Mozumber also told the court that he was caned for being slow in jumping off the police van as soon as he arrived at the detention camp after the long journey from Kota Baru.

"The police told us to get down from the van. I was tired and slowly jumped (from the van). I was caned for that," he said, adding that the three feet long and one-inch diameter cane left a mark on his back and a lasting pain.

The father of two was caught on the very same day he arrived in Malaysia on Jan 5, 1994. He was taken to the Kota Baru police station before being sent to the Kemayan detention camp.

He added that he was denied food and drinks during the journey to the detention camp which took more than 11 hours.

According to Fernandez, the prosecution had earlier rejected Mozumber's testimony in court on grounds that she had not stated the Kemayan camp in her statement. The magistrate only over-ruled the objection after the defence raised relevant arguments.

Mozumber will continue his testimony when the court resumes tomorrow.