In a rare concession, the police have agreed to grant legal access to nine of 13 Karachi students presently detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for alleged terror links after being deported from Pakistan.

One of the lawyers representing the students, Edmund Bon, said he will be meeting the youths on Friday at the Bukit Aman police headquarters.

Contacted today, Bon said he has been notified by the police that lawyers would be allowed between 15 and 20 minutes to meet with each of the students.

"We want to get the students' side of the story in order to file court applications to secure their release so the time given is definitely insufficient. But that's all the time (the police) would give us so we have to work with it."

He said the police also rejected a request by the legal team to meet with the students at an earlier date as it would be 11 days into their detention by Friday.

"In normal cases, especially in relation to (underaged persons) those arrested have to be brought to court within 24 hours.

"From our experience dealing with ISA cases, after harsh interrogation for days, the detainees would be in such a state of shock that they are unable to give proper instructions. Under these circumstances, we may only be able to give them moral support," he added.

The lawyer said all meetings would most likely be monitored by the police as well.

The students, aged between 16 and 25, were first arrested in the Pakistan in late September on suspicions of being involved in militant activities but were later released and deported to Malaysia.

They were arrested by police here upon arrival at Kuala Lumpur on grounds that they could have undergone training in Pakistan to be the next generation of leaders for regional terror network Jemaah Islamiah.

Several of the students have since been allowed to meet with their family members.

Bad faith denial

This is believed to be the first time in recent years that detainees held for the first 60 days of police investigation under Section 73 of the ISA - which allows detention without trial - are granted access to lawyers.

In all other cases involving alleged militants except one, detainees have only been able to seek legal counsel after they are placed under two-year detention orders as provided by Section 8 of the law.

However, in a landmark decision in June last year, the Shah Alam High Court ordered the police to grant alleged Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM) member Nasharuddin Nasir access to his lawyers before proceeding with the detainee's habeas corpus application.

Justice Suriyadi Halim Omar had ruled that the police had acted in bad faith by allowing visits by family members but not lawyers.

Yesterday, the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) said that it would investigate if the detention of some of the 'Karachi13' was in violation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Commissioner Prof Hamdan Adnan said Malaysia is bound to observe a minimum acceptable standard of treatment for young detainees since it has ratified the international convention.

Mere children

Meanwhile, social movement Aliran expressed its concern about the mental and physical well being of the students.

"While understanding the concern of the government regarding militant groups and their activities, there are sufficient laws in the country to deal with such individuals without resorting to the use of arbitrary detention," said the movement in a statement today.

While reiterating its call to abolish the ISA, Aliran urged the government to either charge the students in open court and have them released early.

It also said that some of the students - those aged 18 and below- fall under the "children" category of the Malaysian Child Act and should not be subjected to any arbitrary detention.