A Bangladeshi defence witness in Irene Fernandez's "false news" trial told the magistrate court this morning that he gave a fictitious Muslim name to the police because he was informed that he would secure an earlier release.

Moron Mozumder, whose real name is Moron Mozumder s/o Krishna Govinda, said that a Bangladeshi detainee asked him to register himself as Mahzharul Islam when they were arrested and brought to the Kota Baru police station.

He said that the police asked one of the Bangladeshi detainees to note down all their names.

"I gave him my own name Moron Mozumder, but he changed my name without informing me," Mozumder said during cross-examination by deputy public prosecutor Ganesan Somasundram.

A Hindu by religion, the 44-year-old added that he did not correct his name because he was told that he was going to be deported after two months.

"They were speaking Bahasa (Malaysia) and I did not understand. When I knew that my name had been changed, I requested for my name to be corrected but that person said 'don't worry'," he recalled.

"Subsequently, when I was told that I would be deported after two months, I decided not to inform the police my true name," he added.

When asked why a Muslim name was used to substitute his true name, Mozumder replied, "I don't know."

He disagreed that he allowed a Muslim name to be used because he wanted to deceive the authorities.

Mozumder also told magistrate Juliana Mohamed that he was striped naked in front of other detainees before a body search was conducted on him.

He added that the policemen pushed and kicked him when he was slow in undressing.

Asked whether he lodged a police report on the pushing and kicking incident, Mozumder replied, "No, I didn't. I did not know I had to lodge a report,"

He also said that he did not lodge a complain with the officer-in-charge of the station because he was locked up and "If I requested for that (to see the officer), they would have killed me".

Mozumder also testified that he was charged by the magistrate court in January 1994 for illegal entry into the country.

"I was given 82 days imprisonment in the Kota Baru jail," he said, adding that he was immediately sent to the Kemayan camp after his release in May 1994.

"After the jail, I was sent to immigration office in Kota Baru. At first, the immigration authorities asked us whether we have money," said Mozumder.

He said that the money was to food for their long journey to Kemayan detention camp in Pahang.

"I gave RM5, but no food was brought to me," he recounted. He said that the 12 or 13 detainees in the police truck were also not allow to ease themselves.

He added that the journey from the Kota Baru immigration office to the detention camp took 11 to 12 hours.

Meanwhile, the hearing was adjourned to tomorrow. Mozumder is the second former detainee to testify in the trial.

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.

The trial, which began in June 1996, has become the longest trial in the country's legal history, running into its 231st day today.