PETALING JAYA, AUG 6- Hindraf claimed that their leader, P Uthayakumar is now being threatened with solitary confinement for telling the public of his ordeals in prison.
“Uthayakumar is updating his wife constantly on how he is being denied medical treatment for ailments. For that reason, the prisons authority are threatening to place him under solitary confinement,” said Hindraf secretary general, S Thiagarajan.
He said this after delivering a memorandum to Suhakam commissioner James Nayagam yesterday, highlighting the firebrand leader’s predicament in Kajang prison where he is serving a two-and-half year jail sentence for sedition.
Uthayakumar was charged in Sessions Court for writing a letter to former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2007, criticising the Malaysian government. He had since filed an appeal on the sentencing.
His wife S Indra Devi had held a series of press conferences since then, alleging that her husband is being denied treatment for diabetes and a prolapsed disc which is causing him severe back pains.
Thiagarajan also urged Suhakam to also look into Uthayakumar’s medical needs, claiming that the Prisons Department only offered him pain killers to manage his ailments.
“Apart from being denied medical treatment, the authorities also disallowed his children from visiting him last weekend, on grounds that they are his step children,” he said.
Uthayakumar’s lawyer, Avtar Singh Dhaliwal said that he had written to the Prison Department to seek permission for Uthayakumar to undergo his routine medical check-ups.
