A Bangladeshi defence witness in Irene Fernandez's "false news" trial told the magistrate court that he was driven to use mud and his finger to brush his teeth while he was held in the Kemayan detention camp in Pahang five years ago.

Moron Mozumder said that he had asked for soap, toothpaste and toothbrush from the police in the camp, but they did not "pay heed" to his request.

"I got the mud under the block where I was staying. Some of the other detainees also used mud to brush their teeth while others did not brush their teeth," he said during cross-examination by deputy public prosecutor Ganesan Somasundram.

Speaking through interpreter Zahid Zamir, the 44-year-old added that he surrendered his bag of clothing and toiletries when he registered at the camp.

Mozumder also told the court this morning that he used a plate as a substitute for a pillow during his 21-month detention in the camp.

To another question, Mozumder said that he could not lodge any complaints to the commandant of the camp as the "the environment was such that we could never complain".

Asked to elaborate, he said, "I have witnessed some of my friends who complained before, they were beaten up. And this had led me not to complain."

Mozumder also disagreed that the morning exercise he and other detainees were forced to do from 5.30am to 7.30am was meant to keep them fit.

"It was a punishment, and punishment is never meant to be good for health," he said of the daily exercises.

In reply to a question as to why he said that the exercise was a punishment, Mozumder replied, "I consider it a punishment because we were too weak and we had no other choice but to exercise every morning."

The hearing was later adjourned to Friday. Mozumder is the second former detainee to testify in the trial.

Fernandez is being charged with "maliciously publishing false news" after she released a memorandum about tortures and deaths in the illegal immigrants detention camps at a press conference in August 1995.

The women rights activist and KeADILan supreme council member faces three years in prison if convicted. She is currently out on bail.

The trial, which began in June 1996, has become the longest trial in the country's legal history, running into its 232nd day today.