A witness told a Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) inquiry this morning he was assaulted when he tried to intervene on seeing a policeman kicking an old man on Kesas Highway early last month.

Saedin Wadeh alias Pak Din said the old man was squatting in front of him when a policeman in riot gear approached.

"The policeman kicked him (the old man) in the back and he fell. I reprimanded the policeman, telling him not to kick the old man," Pak Din told the Suhakam panel hearing the inquiry.

"Suddenly, somebody caught hold of me and I was punched several times in the cheeks and also kicked in my private parts," Pak Din recalled.

He said he later heard some "spraying noises" from some two to three feet in front of him.

"I became blinded and felt immense pain in my eyes," he added.

The three-member Suhakam panel, headed by former judge Anuar Zainal Abidin, is investigating allegations of police brutality at the Reformasi gathering along the Kesas highway on Nov 5.

[Full report to follow]