Keadilan Youth leader Lokman Noor Adam who is being held under the Internal Security Act (ISA) has been denied access to reading materials and hence had no knowledge of the latest events, said his wife today.

"He asked me how many detainees have been visited by their families so far as he has not been allowed to read anything," said Noor Farahin Ahmad, who together with her children visited Lokman at the Kuala Lumpur police contingent headquarters this morning for about an hour.

According to her, Lokman who has been under police custody since April 24 was in good condition and had told her not to worry.

"Due to the lack of exercise under police custody, he probably gained some weight instead of losing it," she said.

The police have promised a second visit but did not specify a date or mention anything about his release, added the mother of two.

"They only said investigations are on going and will be completed as soon as possible," said Noor Farahin.

Lokman was the ninth among 10 political leaders and human rights activists arrested under the ISA since the crackdown started nearly a month ago.

To date, five families of the detainees, including Lokman's had been allowed to visit them since last Thursday.

The others are webmaster of Free Anwar Campaign website (Freeanwar.com) Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin; Keadilan leaders Dr Badrul Amin Baharom, Mohamad Ezam Mohd Nor and Saari Sungib.

No reply

Meanwhile, the family of Keadilan vice-president Tian Chua who is also being detained under the ISA said they had submitted a written application to the police seeking a visit but are yet to receive a reply.

In a related development, lawyer R Sivarasa told malaysiakini that a habeas corpus application for three other ISA detainees had been filed at the High Court last Friday but the court is yet to fix a date for the hearing.

Habeas corpus is a writ ordering prisoners to be brought before a court or a judge to ascertain whether their detention is lawful The application was made on behalf of Lokman, Badrul and human rights activist Badaruddin Ismail.

The other three detainees picked up in the ISA dragnet are Keadilan Youth leaders N Gobalakrishnan, Abdul Ghani Haroon and social activist cum malaysiakini columnist Hishamuddin Rais.

The habeas corpus application of five detainees was dismissed by the Kuala Lumpur High Court two weeks ago, while that involving Gobalakrishnan and Abdul Ghani - who were arrested outside of the capital - is currently being heard in the Shah Alam High Court.

Following the initial arrests, police said the detainees were planing to topple the government through militant means.