Fifteen Iban villagers in Sarawak are mulling the possibility of suing the police for alleged wrongful arrest and detention.

The group were forced to spend the night in a lock-up in Simunjan on Monday for allegedly threatening loggers in their area.

"The Ibans from Kampung Sual have asked me to study whether there are grounds to take legal action against the police for wrongful detention," their lawyer See Chee How told malaysiakini today.

Initially, five were arrested by a police team in a timber concession area awarded to the Kuching-based First Binary Sdn Bhd.

The others, including spouses of some of those detained, were arrested when they went to the police station to file a report against the timber company later that day.

The natives were told by district police ASP Wilfred Chin that they had no right to protest because First Binary had a valid licence to take timber out from the 1400-ha concession area.

They 15 were released the following day without being produced in court or without any police bail, said their spokesperson Mat Tenggon today.

Compensation offer

The group met four Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) commissioners in Kuching this morning to air their side of the story.

They said their problems started when the timber company moved into the area in July and started taking timber out from their Native Customary Right (NCR) land without offering any compensation.

Mat Tenggon said yesterday their penghulu (village chief) Kambiang anak Tamin, acting on behalf of the timber company, had offered to pay compensation of RM3,500 to the 35 families in Kampung Saul.

However, the natives rejected the offer and are now no longer interested in negotiating with the company or its representatives.

According to Mat Tenggon, they were leaving the matter in the hands of the Sarawak Dayak Iban Association secretary Nicholas Munjah and their lawyer to handle.

In an earlier statement, they asked the authorities to revoke the timber licence and urged the police to show greater respect to human rights.