The families of six men who were arrested for allegedly being involved in a robbery have claimed that the men are being subjected to custodial torture and abuse.

With the help of Suaram, they have lodged a police report on this matter at the Dang Wangi police district headquarters today.

The families say the men, who were arrested on Dec 11 last year have been in remand for almost 80 days, have been beaten by the cops and kept in solitary confinement.

K Munispah, sister of two of the men in custody, said her brothers were treated worse than terrorists.

"Why were they put in solitary confinement? They are not terrorists. Even terrorists won't be treated like this.

"Please release them, or if they are guilty, then charge them. Release or charge, but (the police) are not doing anything.

"How long more do they want to keep them (in remand)? This is unfair," she said after lodging the police report.

She said she was not even aware her brothers had been arrested until two months later when she got a call from IPD Seremban.

All the while, she thought one brother, who lives alone, had been going to work.

She recently went with lawyer Shashi Devan to IPD Kuala Selangor where the men were most recently held to meet them.

"When they (the police) saw the lawyer, then only they respect (us) and let me see my brother.

"Since then, the beatings have also stopped. So what if the lawyer did not come? We're dead then? We're only safe if we have lawyers?" she questioned.

The men have been brought on a "roadshow", Suaram executive director Sevan Doraisamy said, where they are being transferred from one police district headquarters to another, in order to lengthen their remand.

He said the report has been lodged, though they have been referred to IPD Shah Alam, where an investigating officer (IO) will be assigned to the case.

If the IO calls the families, he has told them that they can continue to seek Suaram's help with the cases.

According to the families, the men were first brought to IPD Sungai Buloh, where they were remanded for 10 days before being transferred to other police stations.

Last night, the men were arrested again at IPD Kuala Selangor, said Shashi, and brought to their 15th police station at IPD Hulu Selangor, where the police have once again applied for remand.

He told reporters the men were supposedly being investigated under Section 395 and 397 of the Penal Code, related to robbery.

Allegedly, the men were involved in a robbery that had taken place on June 11 last year, he said, but he pointed out that on that day, two of the men were serving a sentence at the Sungai Buloh prison while another was in the hospital with his sick wife.

Police failed to state previous records

Shashi also said that in the remand application, the police failed to mention the previous records of remand in the other police stations.

"If prior detention is not stated, then the application is fatal," he said.

The application was rejected by registrar Salmi Hazilawati, though the police then asked to utilise the first 24 hours from the arrest to do identification parades and such.

The men are expected to be released from the Sentosa police station at 11pm tonight.

Fellow lawyer Wong Kar Fai said the registrar was very "rights conscious".

"She appreciated all the human rights arguments and she agreed with us that human rights abuses must stop," he said.

However, the lawyers were concerned about what will happen tonight when the men are supposed to be released, as they said the police may just try to transfer them to another police station and apply for remand again.

"Suspect or not, criminal or not, it has yet to be proven in court, but they definitely deserve their human rights," Shashi said.