Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia (Joas) secretary Nasir Dollah told FMT he received news of the arrests this afternoon.
He said he believed the order for the arrests came from the Kelantan government, which had claimed to have suffered a loss of RM500 million due to the blockade.
Nasir said 32 were arrested at the Simpang Petei logging site and more arrests were expected.
“Yesterday, the police came to the site of the blockade with a court order instructing the Orang Asli to appear in the Gua Musang court on Dec 19. “They were asked to sign a document but they refused.”
Human rights lawyer Siti Kassim denounced the treatment of the Orang Asli who were detained.
Siti, who has been vocal on the issue of logging in Orang Asli areas, claimed the detainees were not even allowed to relieve themselves.
In a Facebook post, she claimed 18 Orang Asli had been detained and more were expected to be arrested.
“Are you not outraged? Do you think their arrest and mistreatment does not deserve as much outrage as (the actions) against Maria (Chin Abdullah, Bersih 2.0 chairperson)?
“All of us must rise against this kind of treatment towards our indigenous people. They are doing us a favour in protecting our forests.”
Prior to this, Kelantan Deputy Menteri Besar Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah said the issue of logging near the Orang Asli settlement in Gua Musang could be resolved if no one instigated the Orang Asli.
On Oct 3, the Kelantan government ordered a freeze on logging activities at the Balah permanent forest reserve in Gua Musang after 200 villagers formed a blockade in late September to prevent lorries from transporting extracted timber out of the reserve.
The Orang Asli claimed the logging activities near their homes were affecting the environment and their livelihoods.