Human rights activist Elizabeth Wong has claimed she was shoved to the ground when she confronted six men who were allegedly spying on a group of university students attending a meeting in Petaling Jaya.

The incident on Oct 26 was caught on video tape by Suaram co-ordinator Chang Lih Kang, who went to check on what the men were doing outside the Suaram office where the meeting was being held.

Twenty students from various local universities were briefing several NGOs about the case of nine students who have been charged by their respective universities for alleged offences relating to this year's campus elections.

One of the students noticed the men across the road and Wong went to check. She said the men jumped into two vans and immediately locked the doors when she walked up to them.

Wong knocked on a window, demanding to know who they were and why they were loitering there. The men in one van opened the door, but only said they had every right to be there, she said.

She told them that she suspected them of involvement in an illegal activity and that it gave her the right to be ask for identification documents. At the same time, she told Chang to call the police immediately.

"They tried to shut the door, but I was in the way. One of the men pushed me and I fell on the road...they all took off," she said in a telephone interview, adding that she sustained scratches and bruises.

University involvement?

Although the men were in plain clothes, their vans clearly displayed the logo of the International Islamic University (UIA) security division, she said.

Chang said the video recording could be tendered as evidence when Wong proceeds with legal action.

She is expected to make a police report and issue UIA with a legal letter this week demanding that the university acts against the personnel involved and that it tenders a apology.

"It's obvious they were hiding something. Even though they are security personnel, they cannot just attack members of the public. Spying is a form of harassment...they were violating the students' right to privacy," said Wong.

Student leader Kong Wee Cheng, who attended the dialogue, described the alleged spying as "ridiculous".

"How can a university interfere with student activities outside campus? Students are entitled to their own space," he said.

"The university is violating that private space by means of intimidation. Students would have the impression that university authorities dictate their lives."

When contacted, UIA public relations officer Shalee Mohd Sari said he has been in touch with the security department at UIA's Petaling Jaya branch.

He said the department did not have any information on the incident, but had promised that this would be investigated.