Updated version A witness in the Irene Fernandez' "false news" trial told the Magistrate Court today that he was kicked and beaten with a plastic hose by two police officers for almost two hours until he lost consciousness.

Zakir Hussein, a former detainee in the Semenyih illegal immigrants camp near Kuala Lumpur, said that one night in 1995, he went down from his quarters to go to the toilet.

He said that he was stopped on his way back by a guard who accused him of trying to escape, and together with another police officer began beating and kicking him.

"I was standing and trying to protect myself but a very heavy kick threw me down onto the floor. I was crying from the beginning and at the end of it, I became unconscious.

"Upon regaining my consciousness, I realised I was upstairs in my dorm. I heard later that my Bangladeshi inmates took me up. I was in severe, undescribable pain and could not speak clearly," Zakir said during examination-in-chief by defence counsel M Puravalen.

Speaking through an interpreter, he added that he did not receive any medical treatment apart from help from fellow inmates.

"Considering the food we generally received was not enough to sustain my recovery, the inmates made me a captain (of the living quarters) so that I can have more food to myself. I did not recover fully until I went back home to Bangladesh," he said.

Yesterday, Zakir told magistrate Juliana Mohamad that he was also beaten on another occasion after he was unable to pay a RM25 bribe to a police guard ([#1]Ex-detainee says he was beaten for refusing to bribe cop[/#], Sept 28).

When the trial resumed earlier this morning, Zakir said the beating only stopped after a Burmese inmate paid the policeman, Ramu, RM10.

"The Burmese inmate took pity on me and begged Ramu to stop beating me. After he (the inmate) paid him the money, Ramu demanded some more money but I begged his forgiveness because I had no other source. Then the beating stopped," Zakir said.

Asked what happened after the beating, Zakir replied, "The Burmese and another inmate carried me upstairs. I could not walk because of the severe beating. There was pain everywhere.

"There were also swellings and injuries on my body. Blood was oozing out. I also could not lie properly on my back and sides. It took me five to six days to gradually start walking," he added.

Trial postponed

Meanwhile the trial, which is the longest ongoing one in the country's legal history, has been postponed to an unspecified date. When it resumes, deputy public prosecutor Shamsul Sulaiman is scheduled to cross-examine the witness.

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

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