Ex-detainee recalls broken bones in Kamunting

As fresh allegations emerge over harrowing torture allegedly of Internal Security Act detainees during their initial remand period, a former detainee recalls a bloody incident which left many with broken bones. 

But the 2004 incident was not at the hands of the police, as claimed by the smuggled 'torture notes', but the prison security unit (UKP) while at the Kamunting detention camp. 

According to Yazid Sufaat, who was released from ISA in 2008 after seven years under lock and key, "about a hundred" UKP members in full riot gear rained blows on the detainees, leaving many with  broken bones. 

For the Malaysians involved in the December 2004 incident, it was a full day of physical torture, but Yazid said that the foreigners were assaulted for days on end.

"It think it went on for a week for them. My friends had broken hands and fractured ribs. Some had gashes on their heads and received many stitches. 

"I was urinating blood for a month after the incident. Most of us only received medical treatment after two weeks," he said. 

Yazid, who was detained for alleged association with Jemaah Islamiah and al-Qaeda, said that the UKP had handcuffed their hands behind their backs and kicked and punched them. 

"They lined us up facing the wall and spat and urinated on us. If I see any of them again, I will urinate on their heads (in revenge)," he told Malaysiakini when met yesterday. 

Scuffle over knives, scissors
He said the violence, a rare occurrence in the Kamunting detention camp, was triggered by a UKP spot check, which saw the detainees' "products" being destroyed. 

"We had a business. We would make things like tissue box holders and mail boxes from newspaper and wrapping paper and pass it to our families, and our sympathisers would buy them. 

"At one time, we were making up to RM30,000 a month collectively and we would share this out among us, so we could help our families," he said, noting that sympathisers included a well-known hotel in Ipoh, which bought their items in bulk.

Yazid (right) said to make these products, the detainees needed to use knives and scissors and this was not a problem until December 2004, when Yasuhimi Yusuf took over as camp director. 

"We asked him for permission to buy those equipment (scissors and knives) but he didn't say yes or no. So we asked friendly guards to help buy some for us.

"The officials found out and conducted a spot check on the basis that the items were security threats.

"We hid the items but the UKP found them. They also destroyed our products. That's when the fight broke out," he said. 

Then-deputy home minister Noh Omar had said that the UKP had acted as the detainees resisted the spot check and hurled stones at the guards, eight of whom were injured in the "riot". 

Stitches and broken bones

Yazid's account is corroborated by a Human Rights Watch report in 2005, which cites interviews, affidavits and statements by detainees alleging the following injuries: 

• Broken fingers, arms;

• Fractured leg and ribs;

• Gashes on the head resulting in up to twenty stitches in some; and,

• Bleeding eye.

The detainees claimed they were:

• Kicked (including in the genitals), punched, hit with batons, spat on and verbally abused;

• Made to strip and crawl naked back to their cells;

• Put in solitary confinement after the incident; some, like Yazid, for the duration of the detention; and,

• Made to face the wall before their heads were pushed against the wall.

A total of 70 police reports were lodged by the detainees and families, with investigation papers sent to the Attorney General's chambers in January 2005. It is uncertain if any charges were laid. 

Asked of the torture claims detailed in the notes, said to have been smuggled out of the camp recently, Yazid said he believes that the claims are credible. 

Although he had escaped physical torture during the remand period, other detainees showed him scars from cigarette burns all over their bodies. 

"Some told me of being forced to sit on a block of ice. Others were hung upside down.

"But I've never heard of this machine mentioned in the notes. Maybe things have developed since when I was taken in," he said, dryly.

Police have dismissed the fresh claims of torture as "baseless" and "malicious".