A defence witness in the "false news" trial of Tenaganita director Irene Fernandez today told the magistrate that a policeman hit his penis and testicles with a wooden stick when he was taken to his block upon arrival at the Semenyih illegal immigrants camp in 1994.

"The police asked me whether I brought any money. When I said I did not, one policeman started to move both my penis and testicles (with a stick). I felt painful because he used the stick to hit my testicles. The pain remained even after the beating," Zakir Hossain, 37, said.

Speaking through an interpreter, Zakir said that he was only clad in an underwear during the incident.

"When we arrived at Block C, we were asked to sit on the ground and the police asked the Bangladeshi captain to check us. The captain asked me to take off my clothes. There were 230 to 250 inmates at the block.

"I had to take off my clothes in front of the inmates. I did not remove my underwear," Zakir said.

Asked by defence counsel M. Puravalen how he felt mentally during the incident, Zakir said, "I was in a total fix as to what to do. I did not expect this from a citizen of a Muslim country. My mind could not think of anything at that time. It was an insult because 230-250 inmates were watching."

He added that he was very frightened of being hit by the stick again.

"The policeman was very angry and I knew it from his face. I was also frightened because a man can sometimes die if he is hit on the testicles. I was also afraid of any injuries and damage on my testicles because I could not see it as I was wearing my underwear," Zakir said.

He also told the court that he was punished a couple of times during his stay in the block.

Recounting an incident, Zakir said that at 10pm one night, a policeman came to the dormitory and asked three inmates, including him to go out of the block.

"Some of us were just sitting and having discussions in the dormitory and then a policeman came and asked three of us to go down. I went down. The policeman had playing cards and he put the cards at the end of the block.

"Then he came back to us and asked us to run and take 10 cards (each) from the end of the block. I collected six cards. The other two inmates collected seven and eight cards," Zakir said.

He added that the policeman then ordered the three of them to do ten rounds of "elephant walk" for every one card less than 10.

"I was asked to put my finger on the ground and circle forty times. I did it but after circling 17 to 18 times, I told him I could not do it anymore.

"Then the policeman punched and kicked me. He kicked me two to three times on my buttocks. He kicked me so hard, he was wearing shoes, I could not bear it. I fell down," Zakir said before breaking into sobs.

Magistrate Juliana Mohamed then granted an adjournment of the hearing to tomorrow morning.

Earlier, Zakir told the court that there were no pillows and mattresses for the inmates to sleep on in the dormitory.

He also said that they were served two slices of bread and a cup of tea for breakfast.

"We used to drink tea from a plastic bag. For lunch we were served rice with meat or fish or egg. The rice which was served was a handful. It was full of stones and sometimes we even found insects with the rice," Zakir said.

He added that he witnessed women inmates being moved from Block E to Block A, where the police parked their vehicles and kept their belongings.

"I do not know why these women were taken to Block A at night, around 7.30 to 8.30 pm. The police went along with them. I saw it seven to eight times," Zakir recalled.

Zakir is the third former detainee to testify in the trial. He told the court during his testimony last week that he was slapped by a policeman when he refused to remove his underwear upon arrival at the camp.

He, however, told the court when the hearing resumed today that the police asked him to put on his underwear after being ordered to squat and stand a few times.

"I put on my underwear. Then I was asked to go and stand in front of a table in the room. They checked my shirt and pants to see whether I kept any money.

"I was then asked to get out of the room and sit on the floor of the verandah for half an hour before they took us to Block C," Zakir said.

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, is the longest ongoing trial in the country's legal history. It entered its 239th day today.