A Sri Lankan asylum seeker claims he was strip-searched 60 times over the two months he was shuttled between a detention centre and various police stations during the year he spent in custody.
The revelations came as guidelines on searches took effect this month after an incident in May in which police came under fire for strip-searching a domestic helper.
The asylum seeker, who asked to be identified as Peter, said that at 5.30pm every day during a two-month period he was transferred from the detention centre at Victoria Prison to another police station, where he would stay the night. When he got there he was told to undress.
'I have been searched every day,' he said. 'I don't know why they do this. They just said it was the rule.'
Peter said he often had to stand naked in front of two police officers.
'Sometimes they were talking but I did not understand,' he said.