Sungai Siput member of Parliament Dr Michael D Jeyakumar has been taken to the National Heart Centre (IJN) in Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur, after complaining of heart palpitations.
In a press release issued earlier today, Parti Sosialis Malysia (PSM) secretary-general S Arutchelvan said Jeyakumar was taken to IJN on Saturday and has been warded at its Coronary Care Unit.
This is the second time the veteran political and social activist has been taken for medical treatment since his detention in Penang on June 26, along with 29 other PSM members and supporters during the party's'Udah La Tu... Bersaralah' roadshow.
“We suspect his condition is due to the long hours of interrogation by the Special Branch,” said Arutchelvan.
“Other detainees have expressed a similar ordeal as the police are trying to force them to admit things they have not done.”
Jeyakumar's wife R Mohana Rani said that her husband's sister had visited him yesterday and she will visit him tomorrow.
"They put him through tests and he is under observation but he is stable now. He had heart palpitations during detention, maybe due to stress."
She revealed that Jeyakumar had undergone angioplasty 10 years ago but has had no problems since.
Interrogation methods
Arutchelvan said that, although Jeyakumar did not suffer any physical torture during detention, he was interrogated by five policemen which led to mental stress.
After an earlier accusation that the PSM activists were suspected of waging war against the Agong, six of the activists - including Jeyakumar - were detained under Section 3(1) of the Emergency Ordinance for allegedly threatening public order.
The evidence, police said, lay in various paraphernelia allegedly promoting communism, such as pictures of Bolivian guerilla Che Guevara and Malayan communist leader Rashid Maidin.
The party now believes the PSM 6, as the group has been dubbed, have been placed under the Internal Security Act (ISA).
Both the EO and ISA provide for detention without trial.
“PSM holds the prime minister and the police responsible if anything happens to our members," said Arutchelvan.
"PSM calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all PSM EO detainees. Please charge them in an open court if they have breached any law.”
