The fate of a seven-year-old Burmese girl hangs in the balance after the Kuala Lumpur magistrate's court today denied her activist mother bail.

Sein Mar and her daughter were among 24 Burmese nationals picked up for staging a protest outside the Burmese embassy in Kuala Lumpur on May 17.

"Please, she has no father and now her mother is not here.

"Please put her in a safe place and make sure she is not abused," the crying mother pleaded with officials from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as she was led away by police personnel.

Her daughter was also in tears as she tried desperately to cling on to her mother. Amid sobs, Sein Mar then consoled her daughter and took her child's teddy bear, before being taken to a waiting police truck.

Court officials were also visibly upset by the drama.

Sein Mar, a freelance journalist, was taken to the Kajang Prison while the remaining 22 male detainees will be remanded at the Sungai Buloh prison.

Met later, the UNHCR officials said their agency will provide temporary shelter for the child. Both Sein Mar and her daughter are registered refugees.

Case postponed

The detainees, who were supposed to be charged under Section 27(5) of the Police Act for illegal assembly, had their case postponed because a majority of them could not understand Malay or English.

Magistrate Aizatul Akamal Maharani said the case will be postponed to June 14.

Earlier, prosecuting officer Jamaluddin Osman told the court that police bail would not be given to the detainees as they were foreigners.

However on May 19, Sein Mar was released on police bail based on humanitarian grounds and was allowed to stay with her daughter under the care of the UNHCR.

The detainees, who were unrepresented, arrived in court this morning clad in T-shirts bearing the name of their organisation - the Democratic Federation of Burma - and the face of pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi.

They had protested against a national convention held in Rangoon by the ruling military junta to formulate a new constitution.