The Malaysian lawyer representing a 13-year-old Filipina girl alleged to have been raped by Sabah police officers today urged the media not to identify the teenager after reading press reports naming her.

"Although there is no written code, media ethics requires protection of the identity of young offenders. In this case, it is worse, we are talking about the identity of a young victim," said Ng Aik Guan.

"We can quibble that there is no case at present but (the press) should also not prematurely do damage to the girl by naming her," he told malaysiakini .

Ng was referring to a report in the New Straits Times yesterday in which the 13-year-old girl was identified.