Rafizi Ramli said the Perikatan Nasional election director never had to spend a night in a lockup.

He said he was shocked to have read such a comparison online as Sanusi was merely charged in court.

“Are they crazy? If there were people who beat you, (I can) understand,” the PKR deputy president said at a“Jelajah Madani” ceramah here last night.

Anwar was arrested under the Internal Security Act in 1998, weeks after he was sacked from Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s government, and subsequently charged with corruption and perverse sexual activity.

The PKR president was also assaulted by then inspector-general of police Abdul Rahim Noor.

Rafizi then recalled how he (Rafizi) was hauled to court over 14 cases and lost track of the days he was in and out of lockups for over a decade.

“Sanusi was lucky because he was arrested but was not put in a lockup,” he said.

Sanusi was charged with two counts of making seditious statements against royalty yesterday. He claimed trial to both charges.

He was arrested at 3am and brought to the Gombak district police station, a move which the opposition claimed was heavy-handed.

Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain defended the early morning arrest, saying the police had been unable to reach the PAS leader ahead of his court appearance.