Forced to strip, beaten and deprived of hygienic waste disposal were some of the treatment PSM activist Khalid Ismath claimed he endured when he was detained in a Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) detention centre last year.

Having spent close to a month detained in the centre in Johor Baru, Khalid recounted his experiences today at the launch of Amnesty International's (AI) campaign called 'Critical crackdown: Freedom of expression under attack in Malaysia'.

"Sometimes they (prison wardens) will come into my cell and force me to strip and ask me questions.

"If I don't follow their instructions, I will be beaten or maybe they will take away all my books," he recalled, adding that the books were his only form of solace in detention.

Without the books, he said he would have "turned crazy".

He said he was initially provided a bucket for him to defecate and urinate, but after his first few days in detention, the bucket was removed from his cell.

The officers accused him of hiding a piece of paper in the bucket where he had purportedly wrote the names of the officers who had threatened him, Khalid claimed.

"So on the floor was where I sleep, urinate, defecate and eat. I did everything on the same floor inside the cell," he said.

He also alleged that the officers kept trying to provoke him by verbally abusing him so that they would have a reason to beat him.

Food and drink were provided, he explained, but the detainees were given only a small cup of water and undercooked rice with a fish "the size of a thumb" every day.

"We have already reported to Suhakam and Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) and we hope some action will be taken against the prison management," he said.

Khalid's account of mistreatment in the Sosma detention centre comes in the wake of Suaram releasing a series of letters purportedly written by Sosma detainees, who have alleged torture during their detention.

Among others, one detainee had claimed that he was forced to kiss the foot of his investigating officer, forced to masturbate while they watched, forced to watch pornographic videos with the officers, and forced to make a pronouncement of divorce upon his wife ( lafaz taklid cerai ).

This is in addition to beatings and other degrading acts he suffered, he had said.

Khalid is facing three counts of sedition for social media comments allegedly offensive to a royal family and was arrested on Sept 7, last year.

He remained in detention from Oct 6 to 29 as he was initially denied bail as he was ruled a flight risk.

His bail was eventually fixed at RM5,000 for each of the charges, totalling RM70,000.

He was also ordered to surrender his travel documents, which resulted in him losing his job with a Singaporean company he was working with as he could not travel to the neighbouring country as needed.

Khalid's case is one of the case studies in AI's campaign for freedom of speech.

AI pointed out that in 2015 alone, there were at least 91 instances of the Sedition Act being used to arrest, investigate or charge individuals, sometimes more than once.

"This is nearly five times more than the first 50 years of the Act's existence," said AI Malaysia executive director Shamini Darshni.