February 23, 2021 09:42:39 am
The Immigration Department of Malaysia said Tuesday that it has deported 1,086 “illegal” immigrants from Myanmar. The immigrants were deported through the RMN Lumut Base in Perak on 3 Myanmar Navy ships with cooperation from the Myanmar Embassy and the Royal Malaysian Navy.
The government carried out the deportation despite a court order by the Kuala Lumpur High Court placing an interim stay to halt the same pending judicial review. The case was filed on Monday by human rights groups Amnesty International Malaysia and Asylum Access, which expressed concern over the risk to lives of the immigrants being deported in times of a military coup in Myanmar. Many of the immigrants in Malaysia come from ethnic minority groups who have fled conflict and military crackdown in Malaysia.