A Bangladeshi defence witness in the trial of Tenaganita director Irene Fernandez today told the magistrate court that he was forced to do strenuous "physical exercise" as part of a daily routine in the detention camp he was held in.

"I was taken to the field every morning and had to squat and then jump as high as I could for more than 100 times," Moron Mozumder said in reply to a question by defence counsel M. Puruvalen.

Speaking through an interpreter, the former detainee of the Kemayan detention camp in Pahang, told magistrate Juliana Mohamed that he often had to crawl back to his block after the exercise, as he was too weak to walk.

"The soles of my feet would turn red after jumping bare-footed on the stone ground."

He told the court that if he was too tired to continue, he would be taken out from the group and punished by the guards.

"As punishment, I had to put my finger on the ground and turn my body (in a circular motion)," he recounted.

Fernandez is being charged with "maliciously publishing false news" after she released a memorandum about tortures and deaths in the illegal immigrants detention camps at a press conference in August 1995.

The women rights activist and KeADILan supreme council member faces three years in prison if convicted. She is currently out on bail.

Mozumder added that he was also forced to do "other exercises" as part of the 40-minute session.

"I had to run around the field, do push-ups, roll on the ground and leap-frog. After that, I had to squat in the field and wait for breakfast, which was a cup of tea and a slice of bread or three biscuits," he said.

He added that inmates were also made to squat in the field for more than an hour, either under the hot sun or in the rain, before lunch and dinner were served.

"Lunch was usually served at about 1pm and dinner at 5pm. For each meal, I was given a fistful of rice and a cup of water. I was also given beef and chicken curries one day each, and fish curry and eggs on two other days each.

"But the food was never enough. I was always hungry after that. There were also insects in the rice and curries," Mozumber said.

"They only gave me a small piece of meat with the curries. I lost around 20-25 kg due to lack of food."

He added that he was also housed in a block with poor living conditions.

"The hall was very small and I was cramped with 360 other inmates. I could not sleep because there was no room for me to stretch my legs."

"The windows were kept closed day and night. The doors were also closed at night. It was hard to breathe and the only ventilation was from the wire-mesh on the wall. There was also a stench from our bodies," he said.

He added that he was not allowed to use the toilet after 9pm every night.

"There were rules and regulations. I had to sleep at 9pm and couldn't go to the toilet after that. They gave me a bucket to urinate in.

"I also had only one pair of pants and shirt to wear. It was dirty because there was no soap and no water to wash it. We could only bathe when there was water supply in the toilet," Mozumber recalled.

The trial, which began in June 1996, has become the longest trial in the country's legal history, running into its 226th day today.

Mozumder is the second Bangladeshi former detainee to testify on the conditions of the detention camps in the trial.

The court, in March this year, heard a detailed testimony from another former detainee Golam Mawla.

Golam broke down three times and threw up once when he had to describe the toilets in two detention camps he was held in six years ago. "[#1]Malaysian 'death camps': A survivor recounts[/#]" (March 11)

Meanwhile, the court was adjourned this afternoon after Mozumber complained of a severe headache. He is scheduled to continue his testimony when the trial resumes tomorrow morning.