Police allowed the family of Dr Badrul Amin Baharom, one of the 10 held under the Internal Security Act (ISA) since last month, to visit him at Kuala Lumpur police contingent headquarters at Jalan Hang Tuah at 3.30pm today.

When contacted later by malaysiakini , Badrul's wife Zumrah Husni said her husband was in good form but looked tired. He had some light snacks and played and chatted with his seven children during the two-hour visit, she added.

She said police did not state whether her husband, arrested on April 20, will be released soon, adding she was promised a second visit at a yet to be specified date.

"They did not mention anything about his release but promised us that we will be able to see him again soon," she said.

Zumrah said Badrul related he had been kept in solitary confinement and therefore he had no idea where or how the other detainees were.

She refused to comment on police arrangements for the other ISA detainees to meet their families, just saying "this is a critical moment".

Zumrah relayed her husband's hope that reformasi activists would "continue their struggle ( teruskan perjuangan )".

'Good citizens'

Yesterday, the family of another ISA detainee, Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin, the webmaster of the Free Anwar Campaign website (Freeanwar.com), met him at the city police headquarters for about two hours.

Police have scheduled visits by families of two other detainees, Saari Sungib and Lokman Noor Adam, for next week. Raja Petra was arrested on April 11 while Saari and Lokman were detained on April 10 and 24 respectively.

Zumrah said she is now relieved as she had not heard from her husband for the past 13 days.

"I was very worried and anxious before this because there was no response from the Bukit Aman police headquarters prior to today," she said.

According to Zumrah, the visit took place in a room at the police Special Branch (SB) office on the seventh floor of the police headquarters building. The door was left open and SB officers monitored the entire visit, she said.

"They (SB) did not record our conversation, at least not to my knowledge, because there was no visible recording device in the room," she said.

"The police officers were quite friendly to us. After all, we are good citizens, too," she added.

Militant means

Police, beginning April 10, launched a swoop on reformasi activists and to date have arrested 10 under the ISA. The others held were Keadilan leader Tian Chua; party Youth leaders Mohamad Ezam Mohd Nor, N Gobalakrishnan and Abdul Ghani; and social activist-cum- malaysiakini columnist Hishamuddin Rais.

Human rights activist Badaruddin Ismail, also known as Pak Din, was the latest to be picked up on April 26. Police have not ruled out the possibility of more arrests.

Police claim the detentions were in connection to a plot to topple the government via militant means and mass street demonstrations.