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A former ISA detainee today claimed that he was interrogated for hours about his sexual encounters with various women instead of allegations that he had sought to topple the government through militant means.

"There was not a single question regarding bombs, Molotov cocktails or militancy," Keadilan Youth leader N Gobalakrishnan told malaysiakini in an interview.

"Instead they (the interrogators) told me two other detainees, Tian (Chua) and (Mohamad) Ezam (Mohd Nor) had both confessed that they slept with many women, and I must do the same (confess)," he said.

"They also told me the reason for my arrest which was that I often insulted the prime minister by saying 'Mahathir undur ' (resign)' during my ceramah ," he added.

Gobalakrishnan was one of the 10 reformasi activists who were detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows detention without trial, in a police crackdown beginning April 10.

He and party youth leader Abdul Ghani Haroon were ordered released by the Shah Alam High Court after spending 51 days in detention while another two were released unconditionally by police.

However, four others - Keadilan vice-president Chua, party youth leaders Ezam and Saari Sungib, and malaysiakini columnist-cum film-maker Hishamuddin Rais - were sent to the Kamunting detention camp in Perak on June 2 for a two-year detention period on orders of Home Affairs Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The fates of Keadilan supreme council member Dr Badrul Amin Bahron and another party Youth leader Lokman Noor Adam, arrested on April 20 and 24 respectively, are yet to be known. Their habeas corpus applications in the Shah Alam High Court will be heard tomorrow.

Habeas corpus is a writ ordering prisoners to be brought before a judge to ascertain whether their detention is lawful.

Tamil Tigers

Gobalakrishnan told malaysiakini that when he refused to confess about his purported sexual affairs, he was shouted at, harassed and pushed against the wall by his interrogators.

"One day they sent a huge Indian policeman who was very intimidating. He pushed me off my chair and held me against the wall and said, 'I have interrogated the Tamil Tigers, and you are nobody'," he said.

"Another day they told me I must confess since they have all the information. All I had to do was tell the truth and if I refused, I would be sent to Kamunting," he added.

Gobalakrishnan said he was interrogated for long hours daily by three or four policemen at any one time. Throughout his detention, he saw 12 different police officers, of whom three were Indians, three Chinese and six Malays.

He could not tell how many hours he was questioned each day since he lost track of time, he said.

Gobalakrishnan added he was also told that his wife R Vasanthi had left him, that she had had affairs with other men and that she often attended ceramah escorted by PAS Youth leader Mahfuz Omar.

He said that his interrogators slandered his wife, Keadilan president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and her daughter Nurul Izzah, saying they were all "loose women".

He added the police had threatened to detain his wife if she continued her campaign against the ISA during opposition ceramah .

"Pity your children, they said. What would happen to them if we detain your wife as well," said Gobalakrishnan.

"I told them, there are 1,000 supporters out there who are willing to safeguard my family. I am not going to stop my wife (from attending ceramah )," he said.

BN propagandists

According to Gobalakrishnan, he was placed in solitary confinement in a room measuring eight by six feet with one light bulb. He had to sleep on a hard bunk with no pillow or blanket. Shower and toilet facilities were in the same room, he added.

"It was mentally torturous. No one should be made to go through the ISA," he said.

"There was food but I could not eat. I suffered gum infection and nearly had prostrate problems as I was made to do exercise daily wearing only the lock-up clothes with no underwear," he added.

He said when a doctor visited him, he requested for Indian food and underwear, yet he received nothing.

Gobalakrishnan did not have visitors for more than a month. He claimed he was constantly told that his family did not want to see him and were not bothered with him.

"They showed newspaper cuttings of habeas corpus applications for my other comrades but said no one did it for me," he said.

Gobalakrishnan claimed that his interrogators acted more like Barisan Nasional's propagandists than policemen.

He said the police were worried that an anti-ISA movement was being conducted by wives, friends and families of the detainees.

"They tried to brainwash me about BN. They kept telling me that Mahathir is good and Anwar is bad, that Anwar is truly a sodomist and they had seen him committing the act," Gobalakrishnan said.

He challenged the police officers to swear to God about witnessing Anwar's sodomy act, but this was met with silence from his persecutors.

Former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim is currently serving a 15-year prison term in Sungai Buloh prison for corruption and sodomy.

"The interrogation was also very racist. They kept asking me to go back to MIC as Keadilan treated Indians badly. They told me I could even join IPF or PPP where I will have a good future," he added.

Suhakam dictated

Gobalakrishnan said when he met the delegation from the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) at the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters, he was accompanied by his interrogators who prevented him from speaking to the commissioners about his experiences while in detention.

"When I was asked if I had anything to say, my interrogators would tell the commissioners to stop and go on to the next question," he said.

"When the commissioners asked me about how I was treated or about my health, my interrogators would say that the question was not relevant," he added.

Gobalakrishnan said the human rights commissioners queried if he had his three meals per day and whether he was beaten, assaulted or tortured.

However, he claimed that one of the commissioners noticed that he was weak, shivering and breathing heavily.

"The commissioner asked for my age, and when I told them I was only 41, they were shocked," he said.

He said that the meeting with the commissioners was pointless.

"They (the commissioners) were dictated by the police. They should meet us after our release," he added.

On May 24, four Suhakam commissioners - Anuar Zainal Abidin, Mehrun Siraj, Dr Mohammad Hirman Ritom Abdullah and Prof Hamdan Adnan - met with the 10 ISA detainees separately, six weeks after the Commission made their request to the police.

They reported that there was no use of physical force on the 10 detainees, with the exception of one who claimed to have been pushed to the ground from his chair and was allegedly denied an opportunity to lodge a police report

However, Suhakam did not name any of the detainees in its press statement which was released after the three-hour meeting. Gobalakrishnan said Suhakam's reference to the detainee who was pushed from his chair was him.

The statement also said that Special Branch deputy director Abdul Razak Sulaiman and another police officer were present throughout the interview.

Voice of God

Gobalakrishnan also said he was denied access to his lawyer while in detention. He added he had been repeatedly denied the right to make police reports against his "aggressors".

He said on the day he was ordered released by the Shah Alam High Court, he was placed in the court's lock-up and was visited by about 30 Special Branch officers.

"I presumed that they wanted to identify me so that they could re-arrest me when I was released," he said.

In a landmark decision, Shah Alam High Court judge Mohd Hishammuddin Mohd Yunos ruled that Gobalakrishnan and Abdul Ghani Haroon be released on the grounds that their detention under the ISA was illegal, done in bad faith and the evidence against them were vague.

Hishamuddin also requested the police not to re-arrest the duo for a period of at least 24 hours if they intended doing so.

The Inspector-General of Police has since appealed against Hishammuddin's judgment but no date has been fixed to hear the matter.

Asked how he felt about the judgment, Gobalakrishnan said, "Justice Hishammuddin's voice was actually the voice of God for me on that day. Our prayers were finally answered".