He was allegedly arrested and interrogated after presenting himself to police to assist in their investigations
PETALING JAYA: Police subjected a student to psychological torture after he presented himself at the Kuala Lumpur Police Headquarters to help them investigate violence during last month’s Bersih rally, PKR has alleged.
Khalid Mohd Ismath, a student at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), was one of several people whose pictures were published by local media with an announcement that police were seeking their help in investigations.
According to PKR leaders, he was arrested when he went to the police headquarters at about 10am on May 5 and was held for more than a day.
Speaking at party headquarters, PKR information chief Latheefa Koya said: “Khalid went to the Kuala Lumpur Police Headquarters together with his parents, family and lawyer.
“As soon as he went there, he was arrested. This was a trap. He was asked to assist in the investigations, but was immediately arrested.”
She added that the police then advised him to sign a form stating that his lawyer did not have to be present at interrogations.
Police accused him of beating a police officer during the April 28 protest and calling for the killing of policemen on his Facebook page.
Khalid, who was at today’s press conference, has denied both charges.
Latheefa said Khalid was taken to several police stations after his arrest. These included the Cheras, Dang Wangi and Jinjang police stations.
She said he was interrogated on matters that were irrelevant to the charges.
According to her, they asked questions such as these: “Why did you join Bersih? Don’t you know that Bersih supports the LGBTs (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender)? Did you know that Facebook is owned by the Jews? Did you know that your Internet subscription money is a contribution to the Jews? Do you like to masturbate?”
No physical violence
At the Jinjang police station, she said, Khalid was made to await a magistrate’s decision on a possible four-day remand extension and lawyers were kept outside. The magistrate rejected the remand request and Khalid was sent back to the Dang Wangi station, where he was detained from 11am to 3.30pm and where the interrogation continued, she added.
Khalid told reporters the police did not use physical violence on him.
Latheefa said: “How can we allow people to willingly report to the police (to assist in investigations) when this is what they’re going to face?”
PKR vice-president N Surendran attacked investigations aimed at finding violent Bersih protesters as “political propaganda”.
He said Rasah PKR leader R Thanggam was taken from the Dang Wangi police station to the Bukit Aman police headquarters and was questioned by a “special interrogation team” through the night.
Thanggam has since been charged with breaching a court order barring the public from entering Dataran Merdeka on Apr 28.
“It was endless interrogation,” Surendran said. “This is psychological torture. This is the use of terror tactics. Questions that were posed to Khalid were political questions. It was not an investigation into the alleged crime of violence during Bersih 3.0, similar to Thanggam’s case.”
He questioned the rationale of releasing photos of 49 people accused of Bersih-related violence to the media, saying it was an act of defamation.
He also said police this morning picked up two more people whose photos were displayed—Hulu Selangor councillor K Suppiah and PKR Youth member Farhan Ibrahim
“These are just normal people who went for a peaceful gathering.”
He demanded that the 49 photos be withdrawn and advised the police to send notices to the suspects if they already knew of their whereabouts.
Latheefa also revealed that a person named Muzazaruddin Mustapha was arrested on May 2 over a drug-related offence and lawyers had not been able to contact him since.
PETALING JAYA: Police subjected a student to psychological torture after he presented himself at the Kuala Lumpur Police Headquarters to help them investigate violence during last month’s Bersih rally, PKR has alleged.Khalid Mohd Ismath, a student at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), was one of several people whose pictures were published by local media with an announcement that police were seeking their help in investigations.
According to PKR leaders, he was arrested when he went to the police headquarters at about 10am on May 5 and was held for more than a day.
Speaking at party headquarters, PKR information chief Latheefa Koya said: “Khalid went to the Kuala Lumpur Police Headquarters together with his parents, family and lawyer.
“As soon as he went there, he was arrested. This was a trap. He was asked to assist in the investigations, but was immediately arrested.”
She added that the police then advised him to sign a form stating that his lawyer did not have to be present at interrogations.
Police accused him of beating a police officer during the April 28 protest and calling for the killing of policemen on his Facebook page.
Khalid, who was at today’s press conference, has denied both charges.
Latheefa said Khalid was taken to several police stations after his arrest. These included the Cheras, Dang Wangi and Jinjang police stations.
She said he was interrogated on matters that were irrelevant to the charges.
According to her, they asked questions such as these: “Why did you join Bersih? Don’t you know that Bersih supports the LGBTs (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender)? Did you know that Facebook is owned by the Jews? Did you know that your Internet subscription money is a contribution to the Jews? Do you like to masturbate?”
No physical violence
At the Jinjang police station, she said, Khalid was made to await a magistrate’s decision on a possible four-day remand extension and lawyers were kept outside. The magistrate rejected the remand request and Khalid was sent back to the Dang Wangi station, where he was detained from 11am to 3.30pm and where the interrogation continued, she added.Khalid told reporters the police did not use physical violence on him.
Latheefa said: “How can we allow people to willingly report to the police (to assist in investigations) when this is what they’re going to face?”
PKR vice-president N Surendran attacked investigations aimed at finding violent Bersih protesters as “political propaganda”.
He said Rasah PKR leader R Thanggam was taken from the Dang Wangi police station to the Bukit Aman police headquarters and was questioned by a “special interrogation team” through the night.
Thanggam has since been charged with breaching a court order barring the public from entering Dataran Merdeka on Apr 28.
“It was endless interrogation,” Surendran said. “This is psychological torture. This is the use of terror tactics. Questions that were posed to Khalid were political questions. It was not an investigation into the alleged crime of violence during Bersih 3.0, similar to Thanggam’s case.”
He questioned the rationale of releasing photos of 49 people accused of Bersih-related violence to the media, saying it was an act of defamation.
He also said police this morning picked up two more people whose photos were displayed—Hulu Selangor councillor K Suppiah and PKR Youth member Farhan Ibrahim
“These are just normal people who went for a peaceful gathering.”
He demanded that the 49 photos be withdrawn and advised the police to send notices to the suspects if they already knew of their whereabouts.
Latheefa also revealed that a person named Muzazaruddin Mustapha was arrested on May 2 over a drug-related offence and lawyers had not been able to contact him since.
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