Raja Petra’s family visits him at Kamunting

Source TheStar

KAMUNTING: Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin, recently sentenced to two-year detention without trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA), looks to be in normal condition, said his wife Marina Lee Abdullah.

“We spoke about developments in the outside world and our family,” she said.

However Raja Petra had to spend the first day of Hari Raya with his family inside his cubicle at the Kamunting detention centre instead of in the courtyard as he had hoped.

Marina said she was surprised that her husband was not allowed to meet with her in the courtyard.

“Others got to meet with their families in the courtyard but we had to see him in his cubicle,” she told reporters before leaving the centre at 10am on Wednesday.

Marina, together with her youngest daughter and a cousin, had arrived at the centre at 7.30am and managed to spend 45 minutes with Raja Petra from 9.15am onwards.

“I wanted to be the first in line to see my husband for Hari Raya so that’s why we came so early.

“But I was so disappointed that we could not see him out in the courtyard,” she said.

The 54-year-old Marina said her husband was still in high spirits but his physical health had deteriorated considerably because of the centre’s food.

“He has been surviving on mere biscuits, bread and water. They do serve rice but his body is rejecting the food. He says the food is so smelly and causes him to vomit and suffer from diarrhoea,” she said.

Marina added that Raja Petra had tried again to eat the food at the centre three days ago but it caused him to vomit once again.

On Tuesday, Raja Petra’s lawyers filed a second habeas corpus application against his detention, at the Shah Alam High Court.

This second application involved his detention under Section 8(1) of the ISA. The first was filed on Sept 22 against his detention under Section 73(1) of the same act.

Raja Petra has been detained since Sept 12, for allegedly insulting Islam via his Malaysia Today portal.