But rights activists and opposition leaders charged the government was not being genuine because most of the alleged abuses took place at secret police cells during initial investigations rather than at the prison in central Perak state.

A total of 104 detainees, including 23 foreigners, are being held in Kamunting under the harsh Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows indefinite detention without trial.

For the first time since it was opened late 1973, the media was allowed access Saturday to follow Deputy Internal Security Minister Noh Omar as he met detainees to verify allegations they were subjected to Iraq-style abuses.

But most of the detainees told Noh the abuses occurred in police custody during the initial 60-day interrogation before being sent to the camp.

"I was stripped naked and they kicked my chest. They grabbed my neck and slapped me repeatedly," said an alleged member of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terror group from Sabah state on Borneo island.

"They asked me many questions that are unrelated to my arrest such as how I make love to my wife," he said, adding he was also accused of being involved in a bomb plot in Australia during the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Noh said he would investigate but defended the police action as "tactics" to get information and said it could not be compared to abuses meted out to Iraqi prisoners by US troops

"We will investigate but there is no evidence right now," he said.