updated version A Bangladeshi defence witness told the Kuala Lumpur Magistrate Court today that he witnessed the deaths of two fellow inmates, victims of diarrhoea as a result of eating food in an illegal immigrants camp six years ago.

"I saw the first body being put into a vehicle. He was a Bangladeshi, about 35 years old. I saw that he was covered up with a piece of cloth and when some of us removed the cloth, he did not appear to be breathing," Abdul Alim said, speaking through an interpreter.

Asked by defence counsel M Puravalen whether he conducted any special prayers for the deceased since he was an imam in the camp, Abdul Alim said he just recited a doa .

"I was not very sure of how to perform a specific prayer, so instead we read a doa for him. We just prayed for his soul. This was special doa intended for the dead," he said.

Abdul Alim, 32, was testifying in the 'false news' trial of Tenaganita director Irene Fernandez, who is being charged with 'maliciously publishing false news' by releasing a memorandum at a press conference in August 1995 on torture and deaths at illegal immigrant detention camps.

The women's rights activist and Keadilan supreme council member faces up to three years in prison if convicted. She is currently out on bail.

Another death

Abdul Alim, who was detained in the Machap Umbu camp in Melaka from February to July 1995, added that he witnessed another death of an inmate from a distance.

"I was able to see the body. He was being put into a vehicle, lying down. The people around him told me that he was dead but the police kept saying that they were taking him to the hospital. I never saw this person in the camp again," he recalled.

Later, during cross-examination by deputy public prosecutor Abdul Rahman Redza, Abdul Alim said he did not touch the body of the first inmate but was convinced he was dead.

"I was right in front of the body. The others had touched him and told me that he was dead," he said.

He also disagreed that the death of the second inmate was just an assumption.

"I did not touch the body either, but I saw that he was not moving," Abdul Alim said.

Abdul Alim is the fourth former detainee to testify in the trial which began in June 1996. It is the longest-running criminal trial in the country's legal history.

Meanwhile, magistrate Juliana Mohamed fixed Mar 12 for mention. A new defence witness is expected to testify when the hearing resumes.

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