He also said the incident had left his family traumatised and that they would likely seek psychological advice.

Sidek told Malaysiakini: “They (police) asked me whether I changed my mazhab (Islamic school of thought)… whether I voted for this party, and this and that.

“They asked all kinds of questions to rile me up.”

He said he was also questioned about his religious beliefs while being transported to a police station in Jalan Semarak, in Kuala Lumpur.

At the police station, he said, he was handcuffed and put in a cell, given only a bottle of water and a prayer mat.

“I was in the cell, and they just kept vacuuming in front of the cell… I was lying down there, and they just kept doing it,” Malaysiakini quoted him as saying. He added that the vacuuming started only when he entered the cell and that it lasted for more than 30 minutes.

Sidek, who was then transferred to Johor Bahru, said he remained handcuffed throughout the five hour journey, during which he had a kaya roll, his first meal of the day.

In Johor Bahru, he claimed, one of the officers was very harsh and lectured him on Islam for 10 minutes.

Sidek also revealed that the entire incident had left him and his family shaken, so much so that he now had trouble sleeping and that the slightest noise startled him.

He told Malaysiakini his arrest – which saw plainclothes police officers jump over his gate to arrest him – startled his 14-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son who thought the house was being robbed.

His friend’s 12-year-old son, who was sleeping over, was left “shivering” throughout the arrest. He said his family would be going to see a psychologist soon.

Sidek, who was arrested on Monday for a tweet on the death of PAS spiritual leader Haron Din, was released yesterday after police failed to remand him when the magistrate in Johor dismissed their request, saying it was “an abuse of court process”.